New Survey Finds Teens Are Weirdly Into Brands From The Early 2000s

When I was in high school, my mom — who was a teenager in the ’70s and ’80s — was positively tickled by the fact that my friends and I wore flared jeans. “I never thought I’d see bellbottoms come back,” she’d marvel. “They’re not bellbottoms. They’re flared,” I’d counter. And she’d roll her eyes knowing that now she could truly appreciate the adage “Everything old is new again.” Fellow Millennials? It’s apparently our turn.

Piper Sandler, a multinational investment bank and financial services company reached out to more than 6,450 Gen Z teens for its semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens® survey, which examines how teens are spending their money. Incidentally, annual spending among this cohort is up from this time last year: about $2,388 on average.

And guys? They’re stealing our look! Specifically, Millennials’ high school and college looks.

Favorite brands for clothing for example: let’s play a game. Raise your hand, but only put it down if you yourself did not wear these brands in high school...

#1) Nike (kind of a freebie since this has been perpetually popular for decades)

#2) Hollister

#3) American Eagle

Are all your hands still raised? Probably, right? I’m guessing they won’t go down when you hear about their favorite footwear brand. Are you prepared? (You are not prepared.)

Uggs! UGGS! Not only that, they’re ranked as the #1 fashion trend among upper income females, overtaking leggings, which had been #1 since Spring 2018.

And, I’m sorry: trend? As in, “a new fashion gaining popularity.” Do the children think they discovered Uggs?! Everyone knows cavemen invented Uggs but Millennials were the first to rediscover them and bask in their fleecy comfort.

It doesn’t end there.

Sephora and Ulta reign supreme as far as shopping destinations, which, like Nike, makes sense to me because those have never really left the zeitgeist and are popular among multiple age groups and demographics. But I was particularly interested in the store that took #3: Bath & Body Works, which hasn’t ranked in this survey’s Top 10 since 2018. I guess the teens are realizing the best way to get your crush to notice you is to spritz yourself with so much Sun-Ripened Raspberry body spray they’ll think you bathed in it.

But in all seriousness: enjoy the Y2K fashion and trends without the fear of actual Y2K. But, maybe, if you’re going to be stealing our styles and brands, maybe you can stop saying everything we do is cringe? Please?