There are pink variants, petite and fragile, able to fit in your palm and charged through USB. There are black variants, large enough to breeze through your hair and collarbones, powered by a Duracell battery. There are paper variants, folded and manually operated, showcasing intricate designs or club advertisements. They’re portable fans, and they are ubiquitous.
Under the California sun at VidCon this summer, influencer Naomi Hearts, with a portable fan in hand, said to me, “That’s all you require.” At the Creator Weekend for the 2025 Webby Awards, icon Jools Lebron consistently carried one of her four handheld, battery-operated fans due to her need for “always [having] the wind.” There are thousands of reviews and suggestions for handheld fans on TikTok: for your vehicle, for festivals, for cookouts.
This isn’t solely my perception from perspiring conventions and TikTok suggestions — climate change is upon us, and $10 portable fans are on the rise. According to the market research firm Credence Research, the portable fan market is anticipated to grow from $558.92 million in 2024 to $979.16 million by 2032. Another market research entity, Business Research Insights, indicates that the global personal portable fan market size is “set to grow to $1.06 billion by 2033.” A third research company echoed these findings, noting that online retail and e-commerce are pivotal to personal fans’ success. The trend is apparent, and as Mashable shopping reporter Samantha Mangino highlighted, the reasoning is clear too: We’re encountering severe heat waves globally, with a recent heat dome stretching from Chicago to New York.
We have reacted by amplifying air conditioning usage indoors. As per Columbia Climate School, “Air conditioning has transitioned from being a luxury to an essential for human health, as heat stress is the leading weather-related cause of death.” However, as researchers mentioned, “the more we cool, the more planet-warming global greenhouse gas emissions we release into the atmosphere.”
And you cannot cart a Frigidaire onto the subway. Enter: Personal fans available from companies like Shein and Amazon, both contributing to climate change through textile waste, microplastic pollution, and plastic waste, exacerbating the problem you’re attempting to address. Capitalism generates the crisis — rising global temperatures — and commodifies the coping mechanisms — portable fans.
If you are acquiring a portable fan to utilize instead of your air conditioner or to lessen air conditioning use indoors, you’ll lower your carbon footprint. A 2022 study from the University of Sydney discovered that utilizing fans with sporadic AC use can significantly diminish energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the trend isn’t about individuals employing handheld fans in this manner — it’s about using them to escape the heat outdoors while keeping the AC running indoors.
The existence of these fans is twofold: a reaction to our economic framework — our capitalist production modes depend on fossil fuels and a global supply chain rooted in ecological destruction and exploitation, resulting in rising temperatures and an increase in individuals purchasing and relying on portable fans (the production of which contributes to the destruction) — and a trend, accelerated by social media.
It’s important to note that the popularity of fans isn’t only a necessary reaction to the climate crisis. When a trend gains momentum, it evolves into a logic ouroboros: You acquire a fan because everyone else is, which leads someone else to get a fan, and the cycle continues. People enjoy having the right accessories, even if they are unnecessary. Certainly, it’s thoughtless consumption, but sometimes we purchase items simply because they are attractive and trendy. At times, a portable fan is merely an accessory on your bag, even if it also signifies looming climate crises.
Nevertheless, portable fans are just one example of how capitalism has turned survival into a commodity by prioritizing profits above all else. Bottled water is essential where public water is lacking or tainted; air purifiers and N95 masks are crucial in regions with wildfire smoke, pollution, or industrial smog. There are climate insurance options; emergency survival kits; portable solar panels — the list is extensive.
As heat intensifies and spreads, the economic system we operate within will compel many to seek solutions that must be purchased privately, such as portable fans. In the absence of governmental action addressing the systemic causes of climate change, we are compelled to aid companies in profiting from existing systems. Governments and corporations shy away from large-scale climate measures, placing the onus on individuals to manage these risks.
All this individualizes responsibility while exonerating state actors. We are left to fend for ourselves. Portable fans are charming; they also serve as symbols and tools of alienation.
When the reaction to climate change is distilled to selecting the “best” fan on Amazon or TikTok, political momentum is redirected into consumer choices rather than collective efforts. In summary, the portable fan epitomizes capitalist climate failure — yet it is available in seven pastel shades.