Cookie banner

This site uses cookies. Select "Block all non-essential cookies" to only allow cookies necessary to display content and enable core site features. Select "Accept all cookies" to also personalize your experience on the site with ads and partner content tailored to your interests, and to allow us to measure the effectiveness of our service.

To learn more, review our Cookie Policy, Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.

or
clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

What Brands Are Teens Into These Days? (Asking for a Friend)

Photo: John Parra/Getty Images

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Teens have a lot of emotions, and keeping track of all their feels is a herculean task. Thankfully, Teen Vogue, with the help of Goldman Sachs, has compiled a list of brands and retailers that millennials or generation Z-ers (those born in the late '90s) are probably sending a heart emoji about right now. Teen Vogue and Goldman Sachs's Brand Affinity Index polled teens in-the-know — "It-Girls, educated and fashion-forward consumers and influencers" according to Yahoo! Style — about each brand's  "awareness, favorability, word of mouth, ownership, and consideration" to find out the brands they are currently crushing on.

For the third year in a row, Forever 21 comes out on top of the list. The fast-fashion giant is followed by Victoria's Secret, which owns the number two and three spot with VS Pink and VS, respectively. Next up in the rankings is Nike followed by two beauty companies in Sephora and MAC before the Balmain-collaborating H&M appears on the list. There's not a ton of surprises in the rest of the top 20, but Yahoo notes that Calvin Klein and Adidas made their first appearances in the list's top 50. Calvin Klein can thank Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner for appearing in advertising and making its brand relevant to the kids while Adidas can probably credit Kanye West and his army of Kardashian-Jenner models.

Here's the full top 20 list:

  1. Forever 21
  2. Pink VS
  3. Victoria's Secret
  4. Nike
  5. Sephora
  6. MAC
  7. H&M
  8. Converse
  9. Urban Outfitters
  10. Targer
  11. Eos
  12. Bath & Body Works
  13. Sephora Makeup
  14. Urban Decay
  15. Vans
  16. Maybelline
  17. Louis Vuitton
  18. Steve Madden
  19. Marc Jacobs
  20. Free People