How Y2K Trends Show the Power Influencers Can Have on Your Sales

nfluencers are an undeniable force in today’s consumer shopping habits and can also play a crucial role in your company’s success. They’re often seen as "the new celebrity" in today’s culture and have an even stronger relationship with their audience than the more traditional celebrities do on social media. Why is that though?

It’s because they’re able to create a type of closeness and trust with their online community that make them often more accessible to their audiences. Influencers not only share their lifestyle with followers, but they also promote everything from new products and fashion trends to wellness and beauty. 

The power of one.

Because they have a finger on the pulse of their audience and excellent presentation skills, influencers have a talent of persuasion that’s rarely matched by any other forms of sales and marketing. Nowadays, many retailers are paying closer attention to influencers, so they can either leverage them to promote their products or watch them to stay on top of the latest trends.

Influencers are so pivotal in today’s market that all it takes is for one of them to talk about, wear or show off any particular product on their channel, for it to completely sell out of online and retail stores in a matter of hours. They’re even becoming a source for some of the new trends that are popping up these days, and if retailers act quick enough, they can capitalize on turning these social media moments into sales gold. 

A Tik Tok post pushes The Gap into action.

For example, earlier this year, a TikTok post of an influencer wearing a vintage Gap hoodie to show off Y2K trends, became a viral sensation. Gap no longer carried the hoodie, but the power of influencers and their devoted followers pushed brown hoodies all over the fashion industry to sell out everywhere. People, who did have this vintage Gap hoodie in their possession, starting selling it on numerous websites for as much as $300. Even now, you'll can still find them selling for over $200 in some places.

The hashtag #gaphoodie, which now has about 7.3 million views and counting, had so much influence behind it that Gap actually decided to bring it back to life, and sell it again to the masses.

This is a perfect example of how much impact influencers can have on today’s trends and how much power they have over our purchasing habits. It’s crucial for companies to keep their finger on the pulse of what’s happening on social media, so that when moments like this happen, they’re able to profit off of them. 

Y2K trends are back.

Because we want you to profit off of them too, let’s take a closer look at this Y2K resurgence that’s been building up the past few months, and some styles you can pitch to clients, within this trend.

Bucket Caps

Velour material and bucket caps were especially popular on Hip-Hop scene during the 90s, but also made some waves in the early 2000s, as well. So if you could find a matching velour cap, like this one from Russell, to go with your velvety textured outfit, you’d be sitting on cloud nine.

Baby Tees

If you’re not familiar with the term, “baby tees” are form-fitting, junior sized tops, which usually have capped sleeves. They had the look of a shrunken down regular sized t-shirt, and you’d see them being worn by all the popular celebrities of the time, like Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Naomi Campbell and Cameron Diaz.

Puffer Jackets

Who doesn't remember how crazy popular these jackets were back in those Y2K days? Now we're seeing puffer jackets in our industry that even have the thicker puffer baffling we saw during the 2000s bubble jacket phase. A couple of our newest Columbia styles, like the one on the right, have some of that shinier material you'd see being used back then too.

Trucker Caps

Trucker caps have been on the rise for quite awhile now, and they’ll definitely be hanging around a lot longer thanks to this Y2K resurgence.

Get a competitive edge.

Retailers aren’t the only ones that can profit off of following or using these influencers. For lifestyle brands, using influencer marketing is a no-brainer. Because they can help build brand awareness and sell product without being “salesy," getting your designed apparel into the hands of like-minded personalities on social media can catapult your brands reach and profits. Also, content is king, and influencers can help you grow

But, even if you don’t have a fashion line, just following some of the more influential people on social can help you put together some unique and culturally relevant looks for your clients. There's also a good chance that these viral posts might involve retail branded products, giving you some more leverage to upsell premium merch to your clients. By keeping in tune with online trends, you turn yourself into a true consultant for your customers, that they'll always rely on for creative ideas, instead of your competition.