Study: Nike Is The Top Apparel Brand Among Gen Z, Millennials

Nike Inc NKE is the preferred apparel brand for Gen Z members and millennials, according to a new study.

The sportswear giant, now the best performing stock in the Dow in 2018, trumps its competitors in the 13-19, 20-29 and 30-39 age range, particularly due to the authenticity of the brand's image, according to a study conducted by youth research firm Ypulse.

Infographic courtesy of Ypulse. 

“It’s a clean sweep for Nike across the three sub-demos we looked at. Among the many metrics where Nike outperforms the rest of the field: it ranks first across all apparel brands we track on 'true to themselves'" — authenticity, in other words, Ypulse VP Bobby Calise told Benzinga.

The brands were ranked on PRIMe Measures, which are based on the following factors, according to Ypulse:

• Personality: cool, innovative, true to themselves, trustworthy
• Relevance: expresses who you are, popular, reflects diversity, supports causes you care about
• Influence: pay attention to, like to hear from more often, heard something positive, recommended to others
• Momentum: talked about more often in past six months, will use, buy or buy from in the future, has a bright future, hot right now

Calise said that Nike’s authenticity is likely to be bolstered by its recent campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, after seeing increases in Nike’s scores in the "reflects diversity" and "supports causes you care about" categories.  

Adidas AG (ADR) ADDYY and Under Armour Inc UAA are neck and neck for second place as the top apparel brands, further indicating that sportswear reigns supreme among young consumers in the U.S.

Adidas outscores Under Armour on "cool," but Under Armour leads adidas in the "innovative" category, according to Ypulse. 

The 30-39 demographic where Under Armour leads adidas is more likely to agree that Under Armour has a bright future and is hot right now.

“Despite some of Under Armour’s struggles over the past few years, young consumers aren’t giving up on the athletic apparel challenger brand yet,” Calise said. 

Notable Mentions

On the strength of its "cool" factor, streetwear brand Supreme ranks among the top brands in the 13-19 and 20-29 demographics, a considerable achievement in Calise's view due to its lower brand awareness than most of the brands the firm tracks,. Just 45 percent of 13-39 year-olds surveyed have actually heard of the company, he said. 

VF Corp VFC’s Vans being in the No. 2 position among 13-19-year-olds is not surprising given the company’s red-hot momentum. Sales of Vans were up 60 percent in August. Vans says it plans to reach $5 billion in revenue by 2023. 

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Photo courtesy of Nike.