Your junk could be Gen Z’s treasure
From Juicy Couture sweat sets and low-rise, bedazzled jeans to chunky belts and baby tees, early 2000s fashion is all the rage again. That potentially makes that old box of clothes in the back of your closet a sitting cash cow.
Gen Z—born from about 1997 to 2012—has taken to the Y2K aesthetic that many millennials cringe at.
Fashion-forward college students and TikTok influencers are flaunting the miniskirts, chunky sandals, and other bright, brand-heavy items that they likely bought secondhand.
Jackson Mangum, a 24-year-old tailor in Eugene, Oregon, says that while he has distanced himself from Y2K and found his own personal style, his wardrobe still has influences of it. “The baggy jeans, different pops of pink, and the chrome shades—it’s easy to go anywhere and be able to find things that fit into that niche. Throwing it together is easier than throwing together a full vintage outfit.”
Boomers emptying their millennials’ closets
One reason for the Y2K resurgence is a 20-year cycle often seen in fashion history, experts say.
“Prior to Y2K styles being back, we saw a lot of ’90s styles,” New York City-based fashion historian Emma McClendon says.
Lauren Downing Peters, an associate professor of fashion studies at Columbia College Chicago, says, “The 20-year duration is just long enough for a younger generation to be able to find the fashions of their parents’ generation, something that they can remember but only in the abstract, as quaint or interesting and kind of available for reinterpretation and adoption in their 20s.”
In addition, both experts drew parallels between the political and social dynamics of the two decades.
“At the start of the 2000s, we had 9/11, we had a restructuring of how people thought about the world, how people thought about themselves, how people thought about politics,” McClendon says. “I think the global pandemic can be a really interesting comparative to that restructuring.”
The growth of the internet and social media in the 2000s mirrors the development of AI today, she said. At the same time, the 2000s may represent a time relatively free of interconnectivity, which could appeal to Gen Z, who have grown up in the age of the internet. ”That is kind of the appeal behind vintage-inspired fashion trends—this idea that things were better back then,” she says.
Jocelyn Brown, owner of online resale shop Arkival Storehouse, earns from this nostalgia by purchasing vintage clothes from thrift stores and antique malls, upcycling them, and reselling them online.
She advises sellers to cater to the buyer. “People really like when something is curated and it feels like an experience,” says Brown.
Resale stores are another option. Nell Tercek, an assistant manager at Apocalypse (a resale shop in Boulder, Colorado), says that about 75 percent of the inventory the store buys is Y2K. Staff specifically watch out for micro miniskirts, vintage Victoria’s Secret lingerie tanks, and baby tees, she says. For every item bought, the seller receives either 30 percent cash or 50 percent store credit of the resale price.
“Y2K style is really flashy and very exciting and visually enticing,” Tercek says. “Physical expression is really important right now due to the circumstances of the world. People want to show who they are authentically and be able to experiment with clothing.”
The Earth-friendly appeal of buying used apparel
The sustainable nature of buying secondhand also appeals to consumers, the experts say.
Gen Z has “this awareness of fashion sustainability and the ills of mainstream mass fashion, and the idea that you can shop responsibly by shopping secondhand without sacrificing style and individuality,” Peters says.
Looking ahead, Brown believes that Y2K pieces will remain in consumers’ closets but will be styled in a more individualized way. As for what comes next? McClendon says 2010s style could be on the horizon, so hold on to those infinity scarves, skinny jeans, or combat boots you may have tucked away.
