Also read: Connecting Generation Z to your brand: embrace influencers

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“ Label or not: these guys all play by more or less the same rules, which are rather incomprehensible to outsiders. The main themes are exclusivity and originality. A Ralph Lauren polo from the racks of the Bijenkorf is not hard. But a vintage Ralph Lauren polo is. A regular Adidas pants from the sports shop are mainstream and therefore problematic. But an old Adidas pants that are now out of stock? Sick. Niche brands like Patta, The New Originals and Smib – all Amsterdam streetwear – are dope anyway. Just like the American skate brand Supreme and the Japanese Bape.

Youth brand Adidas pants


The capriciousness of the formative years
Although brands play a major role in group formation and identity development of young people, the relationship between young people and specific brands is in practice very erratic. What you identify with is very changeable between the ages of 10 and 25 – during the so-called formative years. During this period, young people experiment with different values, ideas and beliefs.


What you identify with at 16 is therefore absolutely not the same as what you identify with at 21. For example, at 16 I was a basketball and hip-hop fan. I walked around in wide jeans from the American brands Fubu and Karl-Kani. At 19 I didn't touch a ball anymore and all I wanted to do was surf, listen to guitar music and my cool wide jeans philippines telegram data disappeared into the attic. This is important to realize: in the formative years, young people shape their self-image in extremes.

Experimenting leads to great fickleness during this period: in how they dress, what they find important and who they want to hang out with. What you want to belong to one moment, you want to reject the next. What you find beautiful or interesting one moment, makes you blush with shame six months later. This of course has consequences for brands:

Now a young person might think you're great, but soon you might be banished to oblivion.



Their timeless urge to experiment makes young people a naturally difficult target group to engage .

Youth brands in an identity crisis?
What does this mean? Is it even possible for brands to engage young people in a targeted and long-term way on an identity level? I doubt it…

The above dive into the process of identity development shows us above all the fundamental elusiveness of young people as a target group. This is not an encouraging insight for marketers who want to ' rejuvenate ' their brand. It is also confusing. In practice, it does seem possible for an organization to be part of the identity of a group of young people. After all, all those haute couture brands succeed.