Gen-Z’s Y2K obsession is still going strong — and no one is benefitting more than the retailers that dressed teens 20 years ago.
Despite the rise of retailers like Shein and Revolve, it’s Hollister and American Eagle, both mall hot spots among Millennials in the early 2000s, that are neck-and-neck for the top spot among female shoppers in investment bank Piper Sandler’s “Taking Stock with Teens” survey. Both saw above-average results in their second quarter this year, with Hollister seeing a record-breaking 19 percent increase in sales and American Eagle notching its second highest ever sales for the period, reaching $1.28 billion.
Both have also benefitted from the halo effect of splashy marketing: American Eagle credited its standout sales to momentum driven by its much-discussed Sydney Sweeney campaign, which chief marketing officer Craig Brommers called “our most successful campaign to date;” it expects the third quarter to go similarly well thanks to its product capsule with Travis Kelce. Hollister, meanwhile, marked its 25th anniversary earlier this summer with a reissue collection featuring styles like babydoll tops and ultra-low-rise denim embellished with the brand’s original tags and seagull logo.
They’re not alone in tapping the Y2K wave, as other legacy mall retailers, including Pacsun, Urban Outfitters and Canada-based Garage, have also released buzzy campaigns and collaborations that have helped them capture consumer attention. From activations at music festivals like Governor’s Ball to college campus events and partnerships with of-the-moment influencers, the brands are showing up where Gen-Z is spending its time — both on the ground and digitally.
A Y2K connection alone isn’t a guarantee of success in today’s market. Look at Claire’s, a Y2K accessories go-to and fast fashion pioneer Forever 21, both of which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after struggling to evolve. Those that have been able to tap the continued early-2000s resurgence, on the other hand, have the ability to not just reference their past but reshape it for a modern audience.
“Everything we do will always be authentic to who we are, whether that is within a cycle of Y2K trend or not,” said Carey Collins Krug, chief marketing officer at Abercrombie & Fitch (Hollister’s parent company). “We have to really just listen to what is relevant and put our unique stamp on it.”
To succeed, legacy brands need to be laser-focused on positioning themselves to connect with Gen-Z online and through in-person cultural activations that are shareable on social media. In catering to a generation that notoriously holds brands to high standards, they should service real needs, whether that’s hosting an event geared towards helping new students meet one another on campus or with a pop-up selling gear at a music festival.
“Product is really great, but [brand should ask themselves] how are you servicing your customer throughout the right moments?” said Cyntia Leo, head of brand marketing at Urban Outfitters. “So really thinking about, is it the new Taylor Swift concert? What are you doing for moments like college?”
Reframing the Narrative
Legacy teen retailers must strike a balance between tapping Gen-Z’s affinity for Y2K culture and fashion without looking too retro or old-school. For most, this requires “re-education,” as Richard Cox, chief merchandising officer at youth-focused retailer Pacson, calls it, around how the brand is perceived.
“You have this preconceived notion of what your brand is and what it stands for based on the long-standing history of where it had been positioned before,” he added, saying that it’s not just for customers, but also internally and brand partners.
While some, like Hollister, can tap into their nostalgic heritage for key moments like an anniversary, it’s important to create a narrative that leans into a brand’s original ethos, but is also relevant to today’s shoppers. Pacsun, for instance, decided to rethink its mission statement in a way that could be applied to Gen-Z more widely, moving from being a brand that was once associated primarily with skate and surf culture, to extending into new areas such as music, art and sport.
“We’ve made this shift over the last 10 years, but it’s just gotten much sharper in the last five to become more of a purpose-driven brand that is rooted in youth culture,” said Cox. “And in order to do that, we needed to broaden our scope a bit.”
He also cited the patience required for the period of losing old customers and acquiring new ones as brands sharpen their new image, but that consistency pays off in the long run.
Repositioning a brand first in a new geography where their legacy is less defined can also be helpful in making the transition back home. Garage and Artizia, for example, are two brands that have been longer-standing mall staples in their home country of Canada, but have been able to establish a slightly fresher image in the US. Garage, specifically, decided to focus on connecting with a 24-year-old female consumer, which “really helped us pivot the brand,” said Mary Ann Vitale, the retailer’s vice president of merchandising, both in the US and in Canada, because despite being different markets, “the essence of Gen-Z is very [much] the same,” she added. Entering a new market “just gives you a great new lens and perspective.”
“Going into the US, we had a really strong position on that 24-year-old girl, which opened that door for us,” she said. “It helped us reposition ourselves in Canada … The US actually was a pivotal moment to age her up.”
What Gen-Z Wants
The legacy brands that are successfully reenvisioning themselves for Gen-Z are getting it right by threading the needle between online-friendly content and in-person experiences.
Garage, for example, created a loungewear collection called Perky Plum alongside 25-year-old influencer Hallie Batchelder. Not only does Batchelder fit into the exact age demographic the brand is after, but she creates New York City-centric content that is aspirational for the brand’s target audience. The partnership worked well for Garage, according to Vitale, because of Batchelder’s naturally laidback sense of style and raw, “unapologetic” content aligned with its brand identity.
The partnership, which is featured in-store as well as across Garage’s and Batchelder’s digital channels, also allows customers to engage with it more deeply across touchpoints — including further peeks into Batchelder’s life with moments like a Garage appearance at a New York Fashion Week party hosted by Nylon Magazine.
When bringing customers directly into IRL experiences themselves, brands are also catering to specific moments Gen-Z needs them to show up for. Urban Outfitters, for example, first began rolling out its back-to-school moments in May with college move-out day. To mark the moment, the retailer planned a scavenger hunt for customers, who searched for branded trucks stocked with restock dorm supplies for the year ahead in New York and Los Angeles. 25 winners were selected to be outfitted at Urban stores and attend a Katseye concert.
Of course, producing in-person experiences that are shareable online is another piece of the puzzle. Pacsun orchestrated these moments at events like the Governors Ball music festival in New York, where it hosted a photo booth and a makeup station with brand partner Rare Beauty. The retailer also hosted a Jackson Hole influencer trip around its back-to-school denim campaign, which drove 33 million impressions and had an earned media value of $1.9 million, according to Pacsun.
Beyond having Gen-Z share content of their experiences alongside a brand, legacy retailers are also bringing their insights in-house to further bolster their understanding of what the generation wants. Urban Outfitters, for instance, has a focus group of about 10,000 Gen-Z shoppers, with whom the brand conducts several monthly surveys. Pacsun, meanwhile, introduced its “Pacsun Collective” last year, an initiative wherein the team hand-picks emerging talents from the brand’s audience to join the creative process — whether to design capsule collections through its Pac Artist Network series, or to style, shoot or model in its last two spring campaigns.
Adapting to the TikTok generation also means being willing to take changes and try new strategies, whether it’s AI-enabled merchandising or selling on TikTok Shop — and pivot quickly if it’s not working.
“Test as much as you can, learn and move. Don’t wait for a sure bet,” said Cox.
