The last few years have seen a resurgence of ’90s-era fashion trends, including bucket hats, baggy jeans and scrunchies. But the latest trend to make its way back from the past is more early-2000s Ashton Kutcher than ’90s Spice Girls: the trucker hat.
Brands including Brixton and Posse, department stores like Nordstrom, and resale sites like Depop have all been stocking and selling trucker hats in the last three months. And the style’s been worn by celebrities including Megan Thee Stallion, Travis Scott and Noah Cyrus, among others. French high fashion-brand Koché even linked with the definitive trucker hat brand, Von Dutch, for a collaboration in July.
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A rep from Depop said trucker hats, particularly from mid-2000s staple brands Ed Hardy and Von Dutch, were among the most searched-for items on the platform during the week of August 2. Searches for trucker hats, in general, were up 20% in July, compared to June. Singer Dua Lipa and influencer Addison Rae have worn trucker hats in social posts in the last four weeks. (The bikini-and-trucker-hat combo seems to be especially popular.) Both of their posts were liked nearly 4 million times.
According to Jadon Medina, co-founder of Posse, whose debut collection includes 2000s-inspired trucker hats and tank tops, he was inspired by the larger revival of early-2000s culture and fashion. Figures from that era like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are in the limelight in a way they haven’t been in years, and 2000s brands like Von Dutch and Juicy Couture are making comebacks.
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“We wanted to hearken back to that Britney Spears era,” Medina said. “She and Paris Hilton were both such mainstays of that era and, coincidentally, have both been in the news recently. But it’s not just trucker hats. All sorts of Y2K trends are prevalent.” He listed chunky accessories, graphic tees and low-rise jeans with the thong showing as examples.
Notably, many of the influencers who are adopting trucker hats and other Y2K trends are too young to have remembered the era. Addison Rae is only 20, after all. Medina said that generations glamorizing the eras that came before them is a common occurrence. Millennials did the same with ’80s and ’90s fashion.
“[2000s trends have come] full circle, with the rise of TikTok,” Medina said. “The last two years have seen a lot of big influencers rediscovering and reinterpreting clothes from the era.”
Data from retail platform Edited shows that marketing communications from fashion brands that include the term Y2K have increased in 2021, with brands like Asos and Urban Outfitters explicitly calling out early-2000s trends as being in style. Madewell customer emails used phrases like “Y2K vibes for days,” and Asos sent several emails saying, “Your Y2K wardrobe starts here.” Meanwhile, Google and Pinterest searches for “Y2K” and “2000s fashion” have been steadily increasing since August 2020, reaching their peak in July 2021.
“From Bella Hadid fronting Miss Sixty’s campaigns to Olivia Rodrigo’s Y2K-inspired look for her White House visit, plus 2000s icons like Britney Spears, JLo and Paris Hilton recently hitting the headlines, it’s no surprise that searches for Y2K fashion across Google and Pinterest are at an all-time high,” said Avery Faigen, retail analyst at Edited. “The decade has gone viral across Gen Z and millennial consumers, where crop tops and corsets have become essential products again.”
