The Philosophy of Subtraction

This article was contributed by Enbacci Skincare.

Keynote Speech given by Georgia Yang, Director of China Operations on behalf of Yong-Li Zhou, Co-founder of Enbacci Skincare at China Fashion Week 2026

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Fashion is one of humanity’s oldest languages. Before we could write, we could weave. What we wear has always told the world who we are, what we believe, and who we hope to become. It is a means to express our identity. In fashion, there exists profound power.

Somewhere along the way, the story we tell through what we make, what we buy, and what we wear began to change. We started to measure beauty by volume. We began to celebrate the new simply because it was new, opting for the quick dopamine hits.  

A few years ago, researchers at the University of Virginia gave people a simple task: to improve a design, a structure, an idea. Again and again, across dozens of experiments, people reached for the same instinct —they added. A block, a feature, a step. Almost no one thought to take something away. The study, published in the journal Nature in 2021, concluded that we systematically overlook subtraction. When something feels unfinished, our first instinct is rarely to remove. It is to acquire. The numbers now tell an uncomfortable truth.

Every year, this industry produces between 80 and 100 billion garments. Up to a third of them are never worn, not even once. Ninety-two million tonnes of textiles are discarded annually, which is roughly a truckload every second, and less than one percent is ever recycled into something new. Globally, the fashion industry now accounts for around ten percent of global carbon emissions: more than all international flights and shipping combined annually.

For too long, our industries, fashion and beauty alike, have sold through fear. Fear of aging. Fear of being last season. Fear of not being enough. Fear is a powerful engine for consumption. It is also a corrosive one. It asks people to buy more in order to feel less, and it leaves both the customer and the planet depleted.

But there is another way. I have spent the past decade building a brand on a single, stubborn conviction: that real beauty exists without manufacturing insecurities to sell them. Where once, abundance was a status of wealth, defined as conspicuous consumption by Thorstein Veblen over a century ago, luxury is no longer defined by excess, but rather, by its intention. It is the difference between owning 20 light grey t-shirts versus one well made t-shirt that stands the test of wear.

But here is what the chase makes us forget. Life was never meant to be one endless high. It is a journey, with peaks and valleys, abundance and stillness. The quick fix promises to delete every low. Yet a life with the lows removed is not fuller. It is emptier.

To feel all of it, the joy and the grief, the triumph and the loss, is not a burden. It is the privilege of being alive. Subtraction is not having less of life. It is being present for more of it.

The research is clear. Past a certain price, luxury grows quieter, not louder. Bags without a visible logo often cost more and draw wealthier buyers than the branded version beside them. A 2025 study found the most discerning customers now choose the discreet piece: no logo, just a stitch only the knowing will catch.

The old flex was “look how much I have.” The new one is “I have nothing to prove.” True elegance was never the logo shouting across a room. It is the cut, the cloth, the quiet confidence of someone who does not need to be seen trying.

This is conscious consumerism, and it is simply subtraction with intention: knowing where a thing came from, how it was made, and how long it will last. The most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe. The most elegant purchase is often the one you do not make.

We are seeing a shift in mindset where people want to simplify their routines, not complicate them. Searches for “underconsumption” jumped nearly one hundred and fifty percent in a single month. A generation raised on the quick fix is starting to crave the opposite.

So what does this ask of us as the decision makers and business leaders? Three acts of subtraction.

First, subtract the noise.

Design for the person who wants to feel considered, not the algorithm that wants them to feel incomplete.

Second, subtract the logo.

Let the quality speak. We taught a generation to crave the logo; now we must teach them to crave the craft.

Third, subtract the urgency.

Build what is meant to be kept, repaired, and passed on —and give people permission to buy less, and love it longer.

How we choose to pursue business will shape what a generation believes beauty to be. We can keep selling the fix, fast, loud, disposable, or we can offer something rarer: the quiet confidence of enough.

Abundance was the old language of wealth. Subtraction is the new language of elegance. Let us have the courage to speak it and to sell people not their fear, but their peace. 

Written By Yong-Li Zhou, Co-founder of Enbacci Skincare

Yong-Li Zhou is the co-founder of Enbacci, an Australian luxury skincare brand specialising in advanced formulations and fruit and plant stem cell technology. With qualifications in personal care development and advanced skin science, she brings experience in skincare product development, ingredient selection and responsible sourcing.

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REFERENCES

1. Adams, G. S., Converse, B. A., Hales, A. H., & Klotz, L. E. (2021). “People systematically overlook subtractive changes.” Nature, 592, 258–261. nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03380-y

2. University of Virginia News —“When It Comes to Problem-Solving, Less Is More”: plain-language summary of the subtraction research. news.virginia.edu/content/when-it-comes-problem-solving-new-uva-study-finds-less-more

3. Capital One Shopping —Impulse Buying Statistics (2026): Gen Z impulse buying and buyer’s remorse. capitaloneshopping.com/research/impulse-buying-statistics/

4. Best Colorful Socks —Top 20 Fast Fashion Consumer Statistics 2025: TikTok purchase influence, ~80B garments produced annually, sub-10-wear garment lifespans. bestcolorfulsocks.com/blogs/news/fast-fashion-consumer-statistics

5. UN Environment Programme —unsustainable fashion and textiles (International Day of Zero Waste 2025): ~92M tonnes of textiles discarded annually. unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/unsustainable-fashion-and-textiles-focus-international-day-zero

6. Taylor, D. G. (2025). “What, no logos? Why some minimalists prefer quiet luxury.” Psychology & Marketing (Wiley): preference for no-logo luxury and the challenge to Veblen. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.22121

7. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (2025) —inconspicuous / stealth luxury: beyond a certain price point, luxury design becomes more discreet and logo-free items can command higher prices. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969698925001778

8. Global Cosmetic Industry —“Less is More: How Skinimalism is Redefining Beauty Routines” (citing Mintel): two-thirds of consumers want simpler routines. gcimagazine.com/consumers-markets/news/22938448

9. Wikipedia —“Underconsumption core”: origin of the trend and the ~144% monthly rise in global searches for “underconsumption,” August 2024. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underconsumption_core