Teen Angst? Not For Some Brands Making Waves With Youngsters
In U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray's Spring '02 study of Generation Y shopping behavior and brand preferences, titled "Taking Stock With Teens," total teen spending on apparel, shoes and accessories was found to have increased by 17% from Spring '01 and to have been flat from Fall '01. Piper Jaffray, which visited 15 high schools across the U.S. for the study, also concluded that spending on apparel, shoes and accessories was almost 59% of disposable income for teen girls and about 32% for boys. But for boys, that number decreases to 20% when counting only apparel. The category with the highest penetration for male teens is food, at 24%, but the demo spends 27% of its disposable income combined on video games/systems (8%), music/movies (11%) and electronic gadgets (8%). Meanwhile, students indicated that the brands with the strongest fashion "perception" were also the brands for which they most often shopped. For teen girls, up-trending brands include Wet Seal, Guess and Forever 21. For guys, they include Quiksilver, Nike and Banana Republic. Piper Jaffray notes the strong "athletic" fashion trend is probably responsible for the upward tick for Nike. Below are charts of male/female teen brand preferences (U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray).
| SPRING '02 MALE BRAND PREFERENCE
| | RK | | BRAND | % OF TOTAL | FALL '01 RK | FALL '01 % | | 1) | | Abercrombie | 16% | 1 | 14% | | 2) | | Structure | 6% | 2 | 9% | | 3) | | American Eagle | 6% | 4 | 7% | | 4) | | Polo | 5% | — | — | | 5) | | Nike | 5% | — | — | | t6) | | Banana Republic | 5% | — | — | | t6) | | Gap | 5% | t8 | 2% | | 8) | | Tommy | 4% | — | — | | t9) | | Old Navy | 3% | 5 | 5% | | t9) | | Quiksilver | 3% | — | — | | 11) | | Timberland | 2% | — | — | | t12) | | adidas | 2% | — | — | | t12) | | Pacific Sunwear | 2% | 3 | 7% | | | | SPRING '02 FEMALE BRAND PREFERENCE
| | RK | | BRAND | % OF TOTAL | FALL '01 RK | FALL '01 % | | 1) | | Express | 14% | 2 | 11% | | 2) | | Abercrombie | 10% | 1 | 13% | | 3) | | Wet Seal | 9% | 6 | 4% | | 4) | | Gap | 6% | 3 | 8% | | t5) | | American Eagle | 5% | 4 | 6% | | t5) | | Guess | 5% | 8 | 3% | | 7) | | Old Navy | 4% | 7 | 3% | | t8) | | Banana Republic | 3% | — | — | | t8) | | Bebe | 3% | 10 | 2% | | t8) | | Forever 21 | 3% | — | — | | 11) | | Charlotte Russe | 2% | 5 | 5% | | t12) | | LEI | 2% | — | — | | t12) | | Rampage | 2% | — | — | | |
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