Yeezy Slides and Schoolgirl Skirts
Yeezy Slides and Schoolgirl Skirts
a special after school weekend edition
Hi friends! Welcome back to After School ✨weekend edition✨, an extra long and extra opinionated youth culture digest for paid subscribers.
I’ve always loved back-to-school season. New trends, new products, new campaigns — so much newness! This year, despite soaring inflation and a disconcerting economy, the back-to-school shopping market is forecasted to hit $34.4 billion, 24% higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to Deloitte.
Shoppers are less brand-loyal than ever, and are far more interested in finding a great deal or specific style than having the “right” label, which has led retailers to pretty desperately vie for their share of the market with splashy ads, celebrity partnerships, and big trend campaigns.
To get a better idea of what brands are pushing for back to school this year — and how they’re pushing it — I put together an analysis of sorts of youth retailers’ fall strategies. I also spent hours (10, conservatively, probably more…I do all of this for you!!!) watching back-to-school clothing hauls on TikTok to get a better idea of what young consumers are actually buying.
A quick note before I launch into today’s back-to-school special…
I had the pleasure of chatting with Hayley Caddes of Chill Pill, one of my favorite Gen Z founders (though she is not technically Gen Z, she might as well be one because she’s so entrenched in their world — and also because she’s just so cool).
The Chill Pill app bills itself as a safe space for young women and non-binary identifying females can express their thoughts while staying anonymous. It’s obviously an important platform, and very much the kind of thing that young people need, but it’s also an incredibly well-executed app with a truly fun UX.
In September, Chill Pill is rolling out a “Back To School Mental Health Awareness Month” campaign, where they’ll be bringing in celebs and creators (including another excellent Gen Z founder, August’s Nadya Okamoto) to co-host support groups geared toward students as they return to classes. It’s very cool and I’m so into what Hayley’s doing.
How did you get the idea for Chill Pill?
When I was 16 to 21, I was in Alcoholics Anonymous and 12 Step programs. I really love peer-led, community-led support groups where there's not a therapist in the room — everyone's just sharing their own experience and really helping each other improve as a community. The need for Chill Pill surfaced when I was the director of a STEM and entrepreneurship program for high school students. It was during COVID, and they were struggling with their mental health for the first time. Many were saying they didn't want a therapist; they just wanted people they could talk to who were like themselves. So I put some of the girls together in a Discord group and we started doing audio-only AAA-style support groups. I was pretty much able to fundraise off of that — those girls on a Discord server.
What Gen Z is buying for back-to-school season…
After watching thousands of clips of back-to-school shopping hauls, it is very clear that Gen Z is all in on sweatpants and athleisure. I had a suspicion this was the case. When I interviewed 15-year-old Paloma for a story about what Gen Z is buying, she pretty much exclusively talked about workout wear. She name-checked Lululemon, Alo, and North Face, and mentioned stocking up on leggings, sports bras (worn as tops!), and sneakers for back-to-school. Turns out she and her Connecticut cohorts are not an anomaly. The teens on TikTok are, shall we say, aligned on athleisure.
After some scientific analysis very serious scrolling, I compiled a list of the top 10 things Gen Z* is buying and wearing this fall:
*I will admit this list is skewed towards Gen Z women/female-identifying people, partly because dudes just don’t film shopping hauls at the same rate, but also because men’s fashion just isn’t as interesting to me — sorry! That said, Gen Z men are generally wearing many of the same things as Gen Z women: looser jeans, a lot of cargos, graphic tees, and high-top Converse.
Anything from Lululemon: Pretty much every girl went to “Lulu” for back-to-school shopping. Leggings — Aligns, mostly — plus joggers, cropped tees and tanks, half-zips, and sling bags.
North Face puffers: Must be cropped
New Balances: Mostly the 574s in cute colors. Also Converse, and a few AF1s — but far fewer than in previous years
Aerie Offline leggings: “Literally better than Align,” said one teen
Cargos and parachute pants: The lower rise, the better
Pleated schoolgirl skirts: Mostly from Aritiza — a recent-ish Gen Z obsession — and Brandy Melville (just “Brandy” to Gen Z TikTokers)
Baby tees: Ideal for pairing with the above. I’m not sure when schools all but dropped their dress codes, but kids are wearing crops to school with abandon
Corsets!: To wear with lowrise jeans and cargos
Blazers: Oversized and drapy to go on top of the corsets and cropped tees
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Denim: Let’s talk about jeans. Gen Zers are wearing all sorts of rises this fall — high-rise, low-rise, everything in between. They’re into straight-leg, baggy, flared, cargo, mom jeans, and skater jeans. They’re moving away from rips, but they’re still into frayed hems. The only thing they are not wearing is skinny jeans.
What brands are doing for back-to-school season…
PACSUN
What they’re selling: Denim (light washes, baggy fits); overalls; graphic tees; corduroy (jackets and pants); cargos (jeans and twill)
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
What they’re doing: The mall retailer partnered with virtual influencer Lil Miquela (PacSun calls her its “digital muse” and “a great example of a strong female advocate and inspiration” — OK!!!) their back-to-school social content. Does Gen Z care about Miquela, a “virtual influencer” who has been around 2016? I would say not likely! The whole thing is especially puzzling to me because last year, PacSun partnered with Emma Chamberlain, a link-up that makes so much sense! They have overlapping audiences and aesthetics, and Emma stands for everything Gen Z loves: she’s candid and real and decidedly not-perfect. Miquela, a robot, is picture-perfect. Gen Z doesn’t like that! At this point, I’m not sure if PacSun is trying to get Gen Z in their doors or just to stay in the trade headlines (did a single young consumer really care when they began offering crypto as a payment option??).
Pacsun says this partnership marks the beginning of a new marketing strategy in which they will be leaning more into the virtual influencer and metaverse space. They’d be better off doubling down on content featuring their own store employees and brand superfans.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
AMERICAN EAGLE
What they’re selling: Cargos, cargos, and more cargos; corduroy (flared, mini skirts, jackets); and a whole bunch of stuff that looks straight out of my closet in 2003 (graphic baby tees, logo sweatshirts, low-rise jeans)
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
What they’re doing: I really liked this AdAge quote from AE’s CMO: “If you're a CMO and you think you can lay out a beautiful, two-month-long back-to-school campaign and let it ride, that won’t work. You have to be constantly evolving and meeting customers where they are.” AE’s customers are, of course, online, and their bts strategy reflects that.
The most impactful thing they’re doing this season is a multi-pronged project on TikTok. The brand hosted a hashtag challenge using TikTok’s new-ish SoundOn platform, which allows artists to upload their music directly to the platform to earn royalties. AE also tapped Katherine Li, an emerging singer, to record the brand’s back-to-school anthem, which also served as the audio for the hashtag challenge. Fans were tasked with creating music videos while wearing American Eagle jeans and using the hashtag #AEJeansSoundOn. Winners received a $3,000 gift card and their videos made an appearance on American Eagle’s Times Square billboard.
They also hosted in-store experiences featuring behind-the-scenes video of the campaign photo shoot via Meta Quest 2, which, ehhh. And, naturally, there was a Roblox activation involving a back-to-school-themed scavenger hunt.
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS
What they’re selling: Athleisure; Yeezy slides; Hokas (“for your Hot Girl Walk”)
What they’re doing: When you think of important youth retailers, Dick’s probably isn’t top of mind, but their business strategy is so laser-focused on Gen Z and Gen Alpha that I had to include them.
For bts, they launched — not unlike AE — their own high school on Roblox, complete with a virtual gym and locker room. (All the fun of school, basically, with none of the homework.) It involves “The Store,” a virtual shop where players can use the in-experience currency known as “style points” to purchase apparel and accessories to outfit their avatars. Players can also interact with other players (students?) and collect things like stickers and “style points” by competing in activities. The style points unlock access to Dick’s back-to-school gear. There’s no actual shopping involved with the digital experience, but it’s a super smart way to build brand equity with young consumers.
GAP
What they’re selling: Like everyone else on this list, Gap is doing a corduroy shirt jacket, leggings, logo sweatshirts, and pleated skirts (and that goes for kids sizes, teen sizes, and adult sizes). I mentioned earlier that brand loyalty means nothing right now, and if Gap is selling the same stuff as everyone else — and the prices nor quality stand out as especially unbeatable — it’s going to be a hard fall.
What they’re doing: Gap has had a tough go of things lately, and their association with Kanye is obviously not going to be the big return to relevancy they were hoping for. (Can you even imagine how much money they’ve sunk into that partnership?) I had to make an online return to Gap last weekend, and I was stunned to find that most of their New York locations have closed. Astor Place, Times Square, FiDi — all gone. The Flatiron location, the only remaining one that’s not uptown, moved a block into a space about a quarter the size of the old one. I knew they were struggling, but the in-store experience was unexpectedly bleak.
But hey, the GapKids back-to-school campaign sure is adorable! Inspired by the children’s book “Everyone Belongs” by Heather Avis, a mother of two adopted children with Down syndrome, it features real kids, including Avis’s children, as well as children who use wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. In tandem, GapKids hosted its first-ever digital talent show, encouraging kids across the country to participate and show off their talents and skills using the hashtag #GapKidsBelong.
Cute in theory, but Gap’s TikTok is so overly produced that they get pretty much no traction on the app (#gapkidsbelong only has 12.7K views, which, in TikTok numbers, is next to nothing).
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
ABERCROMBIE
What they’re selling: Abercrombie has re-established itself as a sort of Reformation Lite, selling all sorts of floral sundresses, slinky lace-trimmed slip dress, boxy blazers, and wide-leg trousers. It’s definitely more of a college-aged/young grad vibe versus the high school consumer they were going after in the early aughts. That said, they’ve brought back some of their early aughts greatest hits and if you graduated high school anytime between 2003 and 2007, it’ll make you feel things.
As for the men’s line, it looks like the designer spent too much time lurking around the LES this summer (the guy in the bucket hat and unbuttoned camp shirt is every guy below Delancey right now.)
What they’re doing: Abercrombie has never been big into seasonal campaigns, nor have they ever resorted to digital gimmicks, because frankly, they don’t need to. Though Hollister has been struggling, Abercrombie sales are up, thanks in part to their jeans — not just any jeans, but the best jeans on the internet, according to many a TikToker.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
While their IG is focused on sundresses and matching sets — very millennial — their TikTok is denim-centric, likely because that’s what their younger customer is spending on.
