Youth Brand
UK Edition
US Edition
Each quarter, we analyze the performance of leading brands in 10 of the sectors most important to Gen Z consumers.
To compile the Youth Brand Affinity Tracker, we look at four key metrics:
- Brand Visibility
- Purchase Engagement
- Purchase Intent
- Consideration
Discover the top Gen Z brands in your sector
- Overview
- Fashion - Retail
- Fashion - Ecommerce
- Tech & Mobile
- Entertainment
- Restaurants & Takeout
- Food & Drink
- Grocery
- Retail
- Health & Beauty
- Travel
Fashion – Retail
We polled over 1700 young people to find out which in-store fashion brands resonate most with them. Here you’ll find the results of our quarterly survey and our analysis of the latest trends in this sector. Get started by filtering the graphs by the metrics you’re most interested in.
Consideration
We asked 16-24s which one brand they were most likely to buy from in this sector.
Nike | 24% |
Adidas | 11% |
Victoria's Secret | 11% |
Forever 21 | 10% |
Vans | 10% |
Old Navy | 9% |
American Eagle | 8% |
H&M | 7% |
Converse | 7% |
Zara | 3% |
Key Takeaways:
As a brand that brings together young consumers of all backgrounds and tastes, Nike consistently comes out on top in Gen Z brand polls. However, the reasons for this may not be what you expect. Nike has become well known for its sustainability efforts and support of political causes such as Black Lives Matter and getting out the vote, but none of these factors were mentioned by our survey respondents when explaining why they would be more likely to shop from Nike than any other brand in this list. Instead, their answers focused simply on the quality and style of Nike products.
Sports brands dominate the top five in this category, and in each case, footwear is the main attraction. 30% of those who picked Nike, Adidas, or Vans as the fashion retailer they were most likely to shop from mentioned shoes or sneakers in their explanation, while only 7% mentioned clothes.
Sneakers are a huge part of the fashion market today, especially amid the rise of streetwear and hype culture, where shoes from the coolest brands have become a luxury item that young consumers, especially males, aspire to own and show off on their social media profiles.
While sportswear is popular with all genders, males are more likely to pick those brands as their favorites, while brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, and American Eagle ranked highly with females. These all-American retailers are mall staples that Gen Z has grown up with, and their sustained popularity shows the new generation is not ready to give them up in favor of new upstarts quite yet.
Leaderboard:

The top 3 brands that are winning with Gen Z in this sector, based on our Youth Affinity Score.
Full Results:
Brand Name | Brand visibility | Purchase engagement | Purchase intent | Consideration | Youth affinity score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nike | 75% | 37% | 36% | 24% | 100 |
2 | Adidas | 69% | 23% | 23% | 11% | 85 |
3 | Vans | 64% | 23% | 25% | 10% | 78 |
4 | Victoria's Secret | 63% | 21% | 22% | 11% | 75 |
5 | Forever 21 | 63% | 19% | 21% | 10% | 60 |
6 | Old Navy | 63% | 19% | 18% | 9% | 50 |
7 | American Eagle | 57% | 18% | 20% | 8% | 40 |
8 | H&M | 53% | 16% | 17% | 7% | 28 |
9 | Converse | 58% | 14% | 17% | 7% | 25 |
10 | Zara | 22% | 7% | 9% | 3% | 10 |
Fashion – Retail
We polled over 677 young people to find out which in-store fashion brands resonate most with them. Here you’ll find the results of our quarterly survey and our analysis of the latest trends in this sector. Get started by filtering the graphs by the metrics you’re most interested in.
Consideration
We asked 16-24s which one brand they were most likely to buy from in this sector.
Primark | 30% |
Nike | 16% |
JD Sports | 11% |
H&M | 10% |
Adidas | 10% |
New Look | 7% |
Topshop / Topman | 5% |
Zara | 4% |
River Island | 4% |
Urban Outfitters | 3% |
Key Takeaways:
In the in-store fashion category, Primark may be considered a surprising victor. As one of the few high street retailers without an ecommerce arm, being forced to close all UK stores for several months this year could have been a death sentence, but our stats show young consumers have enthusiastically returned to the chain since it reopened in June. Two thirds of Primark’s Gen Z shoppers are female, according to our data, and females are twice as likely as males to select Primark as their favourite place to shop for fashion.
Value is key, as the most common words used to describe Primark included “cheap” and “affordable,” while many respondents also praised their wide variety of products. Primark also benefits from familiarity and convenience, as their 188 stores cover the majority of the UK’s towns and cities, but it’s interesting to note that they placed higher than brands with significantly more outlets, such as New Look (519) and River Island (350). While they may have fewer locations, Primark stores tend to be larger, offering the feeling of unlimited choice that these digital native shoppers have become accustomed to.
Sportswear brands also made a strong showing in this sector, with Nike, Adidas and JD Sports representing the top three in-store fashion brands that males would be most likely to buy from. Fans of these brands noted the “good quality” of their products when explaining why they would choose to shop there, with their range of shoes being the biggest draw, above clothing.
Leaderboard:

The top 3 brands that are winning with Gen Z in this sector, based on our Youth Affinity Score.
Full Results:
Brand Name | Brand visibility | Purchase engagement | Purchase intent | Consideration | Youth affinity score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Primark | 78% | 42% | 40% | 30% | 99 |
2 | Nike | 78% | 30% | 29% | 16% | 91 |
3 | JD Sports | 74% | 27% | 28% | 11% | 78 |
4 | H&M | 72% | 26% | 27% | 10% | 68 |
5 | Adidas | 76% | 25% | 25% | 10% | 65 |
6 | New Look | 67% | 19% | 21% | 7% | 50 |
7 | Topshop / Topman | 62% | 15% | 17% | 5% | 33 |
8 | Zara | 60% | 19% | 18% | 4% | 30 |
9 | River Island | 65% | 12% | 13% | 4% | 26 |
10 | Urban Outfitters | 51% | 10% | 13% | 3% | 11 |
Fashion – Ecommerce
We polled over 1700 young people to find out which online fashion brands resonate most with them. Here you’ll find the results of our quarterly survey and our analysis of the latest trends in this sector. Get started by filtering the graphs by the metrics you’re most interested in.
Consideration
We asked 16-24s which one brand they were most likely to buy from in this sector.
Fashion Nova | 23% |
Shein | 21% |
GOAT | 10% |
Gymshark | 10% |
Zappos | 10% |
StockX | 9% |
Depop | 6% |
ASOS | 5% |
Nasty Gal | 5% |
Missguided | 3% |
Key Takeaways:
Fashion ecommerce is a fast-growing market, with many of the leading brands targeted specifically to Gen Z. This chart reveals which of these relatively new brands are gaining an edge over the competition.
We found a fitting winner in Fashion Nova, an online retailer whose business model has inspired several of the other brands within our top 10. Partnerships with the biggest name influencers have driven growth for Fashion Nova, as well as their ability to quickly jump on new trends and produce items inspired by celebrity looks, putting them on sale within days.
Fashion Nova’s biggest challenger right now may come as a surprise to those who haven’t been following the rise of Chinese ecommerce brand, Shein. Their app is consistently among the highest-ranked in the shopping category on Apple’s App Store. Similarly, we see strong results for GOAT, StockX, and Depop, which also have very popular apps. Any brand on this list that isn’t focused on developing and driving usage of their app is at risk of becoming irrelevant as app shopping increasingly becomes the norm for digital natives.
Much like the retail fashion category, three of our top five brands here represent the streetwear and athleisure trend. For male Gen Z shoppers, GOAT and StockX are the brands they’re most likely to buy from, along with Fashion Nova (their Nova Men line, we assume) and followed closely by Gymshark. These brands not only appeal to a generation conscious of health and fitness but also provide the casual, comfortable clothing that’s perfect for chilling at home during this time of social distancing.
Leaderboard:

The top 3 brands that are winning with Gen Z in this sector, based on our Youth Affinity Score.
Full Results:
Brand Name | Brand visibility | Purchase engagement | Purchase intent | Consideration | Youth affinity score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fashion Nova | 44% | 17% | 20% | 23% | 100 |
2 | Shein | 33% | 17% | 19% | 21% | 90 |
3 | GOAT | 18% | 9% | 11% | 10% | 73 |
4 | Gymshark | 20% | 7% | 9% | 10% | 65 |
5 | StockX | 14% | 9% | 10% | 9% | 53 |
6 | Zappos | 19% | 6% | 7% | 10% | 49 |
7 | ASOS | 19% | 5% | 8% | 5% | 43 |
8 | Depop | 16% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 41 |
9 | Nasty Gal | 14% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 25 |
10 | Missguided | 11% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 13 |