Au current: how mini fans became summer essentials

As temperatures rise across the country, these portable gadgets are having a moment in the sun. Katie Rosseinsky explores their new popularity and environmental impact

- Katie Rosseinsky

Tiny Nineties shades? Woven wicker clutches? Those mildly menacing Labubu charms that glare out from the handle of your bag, clenching their pointy plastic teeth? Forget them. From the fields of Glastonbury to the stands at Royal Ascot to the subterranean inferno of the Central line, there's one standout accessory that has taken this summer by storm.

I'm referring, of course, to the humble battery-powered portable fan, the little device that has become ubiquitous over the past month or so, as sweaty Britons try desperately to deal with high temperatures that our infrastructure just wasn't built to withstand. It's small enough to stash in a tote as you rush out of the house in the morning, and it emits the sort of weirdly comforting white noise that helps you ascend to another level of zen during your commute.

You'll see these handy bits of tech in train carriages, at office desks and in pub gardens, as their devotees bask in the temporary respite offered by a slightly cooler blast of air, soothing their tomato-red faces and dispersing some of the perspiration that's started to take up residence on their upper lip. It doesn't hurt, either, that the wind machine effect tends to give long hair a bit of a zhush, too, so you can briefly pretend you're in a Mariah Carey video when you're in fact standing at a bus stop looking like a wilted houseplant.