New report shows U.S. teens love food over fashion

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Apr 14, 2017

A new study by Piper Jaffray has unveiled that Generation Zs are more willing to spend on food over fashion purchases. 

In comparison to a survey conducted a year ago, Piper Jaffray found that U.S. teens are more willing to spend their money on food than clothing. Food accounted for 24% of teen's purchases, while clothing accounted for 19%.Of note, Gen Z doesn’t gravitate towards full-service restaurants, instead favoring Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Chipotle, in first, second, and third place respectively.

In the fashion sector, teens still prefer athletic and athleisure brands over regular apparel brands, favoring athletic brands a full 15% more than other brands. Nike resonated the most with Gen Z, ranking number one in brand perception in the teen demographic.

Adidas quickly jumped up in ranking in comparison to last year, taking home the fifth spot, up five positions from last year.  Adidas’s footwear ranked at an all-time high for Gen Z females and was also noted as the top ‘new brand’ by teen males. In addition, Lululemon has found favor with teens, taking home the fourth spot, with Patagonia following close behind in fifth.

Additionally, in the clothing category, American Eagle sat at the number two brand favored by teens, while Forever 21 sat at number three, and H&M tied with Adidas for the number five spot.  In the footwear category, Nike swooped in at number one, followed by Vans, Adidas, Converse, and Steve Madden. In the handbag world, Michael Kors accounted for 33% of handbag purchases, followed by Kate Spade at 19%, Coach at 9%, Longchamp at 5%, and Louis Vuitton in fifth place with 5%.

Of note, teens said that they no longer favored Under Armour, Michael Kors, The North Face, Ralph Lauren and Vineyard Vines.

Also of interest, Snapchat was the most favored social media platform for teens, with 39% of teens saying it was their favorite app. Snapchat was followed by Instagram, then Twitter. 

The survey information was gathered from 5,500 teens from across the U.S. with an average age of 16.