Is Mexicanism a trend or just a narrative?

By: Karl Manrique

There is a strong discourse promoting the belief that fashion trends aimed at the popular Mexican consumer are the solution that will positively revolutionize the fashion industry in Mexico. This is a very appealing theory, although perhaps, in practice, it may not be that functional.

To understand this, we must ask ourselves: does the popular class really consume Mexican products? Does their economy allow it? And does the other large part of the population that consumes national products, the middle class, identify with this type of aesthetic?

Reality or just a good discourse?

In a country where there are 38.5 million people living in poverty, according to INEGI, we might think that designing products for them could be a great opportunity to reach many customers with a good product designed for them.

But the reality is different: selling fashion products to this portion of the population means that you must offer a proposal at accessible prices, which, in principle, will leave you with very little profit.

We must also take into account that, for this sector of the population, fashion consumption is not the main priority, since their income is allocated to basic needs such as food, housing, services, and transportation. On the other hand, it is with this type of consumer that you face the most complicated competitor: China.

For this reason, the discourse of speaking to the most popular or poorest classes when talking about trends is completely absurd. Especially in a country where brands that produce popular fashion products have been heavily impacted by the large Chinese platforms; this continues to be the case despite the new regulations from the federal government.

The reality is that, although almost all of us have fallen into Temu, Shein, and AliExpress, it is precisely the popular classes (lower-middle lower class and lower class) who, due to the extremely important price factor, prefer to consume fashion on these platforms and thus be able to consume more clothing products for their daily lives, since they prioritize looking good while spending little.

For this reason, national companies targeting this audience have suffered major consequences when trying to compete directly with them, since it is impossible to match those prices in our country due to production costs in Mexico, which do not have the subsidies that Chinese manufacturers benefit from.

In addition, it is also important to recognize that, in lower-income segments, a large part of clothing consumption is directed not only toward low-cost international platforms, but also toward informal markets, counterfeit products, and irregular imported clothing sold in flea markets or unregulated channels.

And this mainly responds to an issue of purchasing power and price accessibility, rather than a preference for specific brands or trends.

For all these reasons, if you are starting a business or have a fashion-related company, it is in the middle class where the right consumers are found, since these buyers have higher incomes to consume fashion, seek products with better quality and durability than what Chinese platforms offer, but, unlike the upper class, which can afford to consume high-end imported or foreign products, middle-class incomes are compatible with the prices of Mexican brands.

In 2026, have foreign trends been left in the past?

Although the major fashion trend forecasting agencies provide us with useful and accurate content about what the global market is adopting and where it is heading, precisely because they have such a globalized focus, many of these do not apply to the average Latin American consumer.

In fact, the figures on which these platforms base their predictions are mainly centralized in the United States and Europe, regions that, although they do influence us, live in a climatic, cultural, and economic reality very different from ours.

According to INEGI figures, the average income of a middle-class household in Mexico is $22,297 MXN per month. In the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH), it is revealed that approximately 42% of households in Mexico identify as middle class, which is equivalent to around 47 million people.

And, speaking of trends, if we focus on selling what are believed to be “Mexican” trends, we can lose out, since these are sometimes simply niche styles.

So, mexicanizing trends does not mean transferring popular or neighborhood aesthetics to the rest of the population, because this would mean forgetting the millions of Mexicans who do not dress this way due to age, socioeconomic level, or lifestyle reasons.

Because, although there are currently designers and fashion brands with concepts that have found their market niche and become successful thanks to these “trends,” the rest of Mexicans consume trends for everyday use, where we seek functional, fairly priced, and durable garments that reflect our identity, whatever that identity may be.

And yes, we must continue informing ourselves about what is happening in fashion globally, but we must objectively and without romanticism observe what the Mexican consumer actually consumes, and not theorize about what we would like them to wear.