Dive Brief:

• In a survey of 5,690 U.S. teens, Nike was named the top clothing brand with 33% share, with American Eagle (7%) and Lululemon (6%) behind it, according to Piper Sandler’s 45th Semi-Annual Generation Z Survey released Tuesday. The 44th version of the survey, released in October, surveyed 14,500 teens and listed the same brands as Gen Z’s favorites.
• The latest survey found that Ulta, Sephora and Target were the top destinations for beauty among Gen Z. Cosmetics surpassed skincare for the first time since 2020 as the highest priority for beauty spend, with E.l.f remaining the top cosmetics brand.
• Teen self-reported spending was up 2% year over year at $2,419 with parental contribution being 60%. Additionally, shopping channel preferences favored off-price and secondhand, which were both up several hundred basis points year over year.

Dive Insight:

While self-reported spending increased overall in Piper Sandler’s latest survey, some demographic groups exceeded others and category preferences differed.

Upper-income males increased spend by 6% year over year, while upper-income female spending increased by just 1%. Meanwhile, food was the top wallet priority for males and clothing took the top spot for females. 

The survey — which was conducted Feb. 13 to March 21 — had most of its respondents from the South at 43%, with the Midwest at 26%, the West at 22% and the Northeast at 9%.

Ulta, in addition to being the most preferred retailer to shop at for beauty, also had the strongest loyalty membership among respondents with 63% of female teens being enrolled. The top beauty brands across categories like skin care, fragrance and hair care, spanned both high-end and drugstore pricing, and included CeraVe, Drunk Elephant, Pantene, Olaplex, Maybelline and Fenty Beauty.

Nike, Converse and Adidas remained the top three preferred brands for footwear. While athletic footwear brands On and Hoka One One were ranked in the No. 12 and 19 spots for all surveyed teens, they were ranked in the top five brands among upper-income respondents. 

Amazon maintained its top spot as the favored e-commerce shopping website among teens with 57% share, with the direct-to-consumer websites from Nike (6%), Shein (6%) and Lululemon (3%) ranked behind it.