According to Piper Jaffray’s 36th semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey for Fall 2018, the most notable brand gainers in mindshare with teens have been Vans, Adidas, Lululemon and surprisingly, Crocs.

Other trends found in the active lifestyle space:

  • Streetwear and 1990s themes building – Vans reached a new peak, while Supreme, Champion and TH/CK increase.
  • Nike declines ongoing, but solidifying upper-income trends could indicate bottoming.

An accompanying infographic shows that Nike continues to have a comfortable lead in the the Top Clothing Brands category with teens, with mindshare at 22 percent. Nike is followed by American Eagle, 9 percent; Adidas, 6 percent; Forever 21, 5 percent and PacSun, 4 percent.

In the Top Footwear Brands category, Nike remained dominant at 41 percent mindshare with teens. Vans was second, at 19 percent; then Adidas, 14 percent; Converse, 5 percent and Foot Locker, 3 percent.

Nike was second in mindshare in Top Shopping Websites, at 5 percent, well behind Amazon, 47 percent. The rest of the top-five were American Eagle, 3 percent; Urban Outfitters, 3 percent and PacSun, 2 percent.

Broader trends include:

  • Overall teen spending down 5 percent from spring and up 1 percent from a year ago
  • Food and video games continue to dominate teen wallet
  • Accessories share of female wallets reached an all-time low (under 5 percent)
  • Instagram surpasses Snapchat as the No. 1 most used social media platform as Facebook engagement declines

“Our fall survey showed overall teen spending as flat with the prior year. That said, teen spending continues to expand in categories like video games and food. Females now indicate they spend three times more on beauty than accessories,” said Erinn Murphy, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst. “Within fashion, we see a strong brand cycle emerging led by athletic, streetwear and 1990s brands ranging from Vans, Supreme, Tommy Hilfiger and Adidas.”

Fall 2018 Key Findings

Spending & Shopping Behavior

  • Food continues to be teens’ No. 1 spending category, remaining at its 24 percent peak
  • Chick-fil-A is No. 1 restaurant, followed by Starbucks
  • Male spending on video games reached a new peak at 14 percent
  • Most notable brand gainers have been Vans, Adidas, lululemon and surprisingly, Crocs
  • Rotation of female spending out of fashion accessories and into personal care
  • Teens overwhelmingly prefer to shop for color cosmetics in-store (91 percent of female teens) vs. online

Brand Preferences

  • Brands matter – 45 percent of teens say “brand” is most important in making a purchase vs. 33 percent (six years ago)
  • 1990s and streetwear styles continue to grow with Tommy Hilfiger, Supreme, CK and Champion–and even luxury brands including Off-White, Balenciaga and Gucci
  • Nike mindshare declines from 25 percent to 22 percent; Adidas remains No. 3 brand
  • Amazon consistently teens’ favorite website – mindshare increases to 47 percent (44 percent last spring)
  • Intent to buy iPhone continues to climb – 86 percent of Gen-Z will choose the iPhone next (compared to 84 percent last spring)

The survey highlights discretionary spending trends and brand preferences amongst 8,600 teens across 48 U.S. states with an average age of 16.

Photo courtesy Vans