Mallmaxxing and Brainrot Parades
plus: everything gen z bought on black friday
Welcome back to After School Monday Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. 🫶
In today’s letter:
Inside teens’ $18B shopping weekend + Black Friday bestsellers, based on 1000s of haul TikToks
The rise of “horny lit-girl winter”
The Norwegian schools that promise a Stone Age brain reset
What do Dancing With the Stars and youth rewilding have in common?
Gen Z’s favorite cocktail is from Chili’s
Some great news for single millennial men
When “self-care” matters more than family
Gen Alpha is panic-joining LinkedIn at 14
And so much more, plus everything I’m buying, reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
THE TIKTOKIFICATION OF MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE
On Thursday morning, I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’ve been watching since I was a kid, and I’ve always found comfort in how little it’s changed over time — a few years ago, my husband covertly switched to a previous year’s parade to prove a point of just how little the programming changes year to year, and it took me a half hour to notice.
But this year’s parade was unusually self-aware and meta, like the team behind the event had suddenly discovered the internet: There was a Netflix’s K-pop Demon Hunters performance, a Geese track playing from a float, TikTok’s Mr. Fantasy (otherwise known as Riverdale star KJ Apa) making a truly chaotic cameo, and, of course, the debut of the Labubu.
The 16-foot furry Labubu and Mokoko inflatables are the first-ever furry sculptures Macy’s has engineered for a parade float. A local seventh grader told the New York Times, “The whole class has been talking about it…I think around half the class is going to see it.”
Of course, the parade wasn’t only engineered with hyper-online Gen Alphas and Zs in mind. As a millennial, I was both delighted and dismayed to see Lil Jon singing “Turn Down For What” on a Toys ‘R’ Us float. (I think “Get Low” would have gotten the crowd moving more, but I suspect the FCC objected to lines like “til all skeet-skeet, m*therf*cker.”) And then there was Busta Rhymes atop a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float. He performed a bunch of hits, including “Put Ya Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” a song that came out in 1997, the very same year that the very oldest Gen Zers were born. Can you imagine being a Gen Zer discovering “Put Ya Hands Where My Eyes Could See” via a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? I’ve never been more relieved to be 38.
The cross-generational strategy worked: The parade pulled a record 34.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, 8% higher than last year, with adults 18-49 up 13%. The NBC broadcast alone averaged 25.4 million viewers, the biggest entertainment audience since the 2019 Oscars.
One way you can tell it captured the zeitgeist: My social feeds were instantly filled with TikToks about the parade. This one was my favorite:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
BLACK FRIDAY REPORT: WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE BOUGHT
I spent the better part of the weekend watching Black Friday hauls on TikTok, and while Bloomberg reported that shoppers across the country were “underwhelmed and unimpressed,” the young people on my social media feed looked anything but.
U.S. shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, a 9.1 percent jump from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. Salesforce put the day’s total even higher at $18 billion and said luxury apparel and accessories showed “unusual strength.” Adobe predicted the weekend would be strong, with $5.5 billion projected for Saturday and $5.9 billion for Sunday, which is consistent with my research — a lot of the “Black Friday hauls” were actually from Saturday and Sunday — and Cyber Monday is expected to be the season’s biggest online shopping day, according to Adobe, driving $14.2 billion in spending.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Teen-driven retailers had the strongest in-store turnouts, Bloomberg reported, with Edikted, Kendra Scott, Brandy Melville, Alo Yoga, and Bath & Body Works drawing some of the largest crowds in malls across the U.S. At the same time, many consumers (especially younger ones) were budgeting more closely, price-matching in person, and treating Black Friday as a chance to stock up on essentials (Victoria’s Secret underwear, Bath & Body Works candles) rather than impulse splurging.
THE TOP 10 GEN Z BLACK FRIDAY PURCHASES
A moment on my methodology: Between Thursday night and Monday morning, I watched hundreds, if not thousands, of Black Friday hauls on TikTok, then tallied up the most-mentioned items. (“Why are you doing this to yourself?” my husband asked me at one point. I still don’t have an answer, but I hope you enjoy!)
1. LULULEMON’S VIRAL POLKA-DOT SET, $98-$128: Lululemon’s new Polka Flock collection was by far the most coveted find of Black Friday. Girls “literally ran” to malls after spotting the pieces on TikTok, in some cases queuing up outside stores. Employees told shoppers the drop wouldn’t hit the website until December 2, which only intensified demand. The much-hyped launch comes at a very opportune time for Lululemon, which has seen U.S. sales decline and its stock price fall more than 50% in 2025, wiping out over $25 billion in market value. Founder Chip Wilson, still the largest individual shareholder with an 8% stake worth about $1.8 billion, has publicly attacked CEO Calvin McDonald for a “loss of cool,” describing the decline as a “slow march to becoming The Gap with cheap acrylic sweaters.”
2. VICTORIA’S SECRET MATCHING PJ SETS, $90: I’m not quite sure when or how it happened, but Victoria’s Secret has quietly slipped back into teen relevancy. In addition to the seven for $35 underwear deal — a classic! — young shoppers were loading up on the matching pajama sets (especially the striped ones), plus lotions and perfumes. The gift-with-purchase promo was a major draw, and lots of girls pushed their totals to $100 for the tote or $150 for the tote and the blanket. I can’t believe gift-with-purchase promos are still that effective!
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
3. ARITZIA SUPER PUFFS, $225: I don’t know how girls are finding the closet space for yet another puffer, but Aritzia’s big Black Friday sale made a convincing case. The retailer took between $25 and $50 off its popular Super Puff line, which now includes seemingly endless options: cropped, long, mid, matte, gloss, and what feels like hundreds of colors. The classic black remains the favorite.
4. BATH & BODY WORKS 3-WICK CANDLE, $28: Another mall-era staple from millennial adolescence that somehow remains a teen stronghold! Their sale — buy three products, get four free — was “the opportunity of a lifetime,” as one girl put it. Most used the promo to stock up on 3-wick candles; the “Fresh Balsam” scent was mentioned the most.
5. BRANDY MELVILLE PRISCILLA PANTS, $24: Shoppers went to PacSun solely to load up on Brandy Melville, even though none of it was on sale. The willingness to pay full price on Black Friday underscores Brandy’s popularity — girls love the tees, but the foldover Priscilla pants also came up again and again.
6. SKIMS STRETCH TEES, $48: Skims was mentioned in the vast majority of the Black Friday hauls I watched; girls either hit Skims’ expanding standalone stores — where there was a storewide 30% off sale — or cleaned out the Skims sections at Nordstrom. The tees were a standout; matching pajamas are also popular (“This last year, I’ve fallen in love with wearing sets to bed,” said one girl).
7. FREE PEOPLE MOUNTAIN HIGH HALF-ZIP FLEECE, $98: Gen Z men aren’t the only ones obsessed with quarter zips and matcha lattes. Both quarter and half zips were mentioned again and again, and the FP Movement Mountain High half-zip was especially popular. Aritzia’s are also a favorite (particularly with the matching cargo sweatpants — “These are the most flattering sweatpants I’ve ever owned,” said one girl), and Aerie’s were mentioned a lot, too (“It’s giving Alo…but honestly better quality than Alo,” said one girl.)
8. GAP NAP HOODIE, $80: A few months ago, Gap released a hoodie that says “NAP” across the chest, stylized like the classic “GAP” logo — pure bait for a generation that famously loves to bedrot. It quickly sold out, but now it’s back in stock and half off.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
9. COACH SPARKLE BAG, $350: Young women love the brand’s logo jacquard with crystal embellishment, and the Coach Crystal Swing Zip 20 style is a particular favorite. It’s a slightly smaller take on the original Swing Zip, based on a 1998 Coach design that the brand recently updated.
10. AERIE PJ SET WITH MATCHING BRALETTE, $130: Nothing could have prepared me for the latest matching pajama trend: a three-piece set that includes the bottoms, the button-front shirt, and the matching bralette. These gingerbread man-print boxer briefs were also popular.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser