Legacy brands from the Y2K era are making a big comeback, not by simply repackaging but by reinventing themselves for a digital-native generation that is pining for a non-digital era.
Pacsun is a poster child for this, but the company’s Chief Merchandising Officer Richard Cox thinks the brand’s popularity with today’s young consumers has a lot less to do with its ’90s fame and more to do with the brand’s ability to connect with its customers.
“I actually don’t think our resurgence has anything to do with nostalgia; in fact, I think a lot of our customers don’t really have a good reference point to what we used to be, because we’ve made quite a transition over the years in terms of who we are, the brands we carry, the partnerships we have and our mission statement,” Cox shared in this week’s episode of the Retail Remix podcast.
“There is still going to be that heritage — we are California-based brand, LA lifestyle for sure, skate roots for sure — but when you take a step back and look at what we stand for and what we represent, the one commonality from years ago would be youth and youth culture,” Cox added. “But the way we get there makes us a bit unique from back then. We’ve become a much more purpose-driven brand.”
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Pacsun’s purpose is driven by a deep understanding of today’s youth, and this understanding was aided by the company’s first Youth Survey, conducted in partnership with GlobalData. There were some surprises in the findings:
“We asked a question around what was most important to young people intrinsically or internally, so not an external factor, but more of an internal factor,” said Cox. “One of the most important things to them is mental health. It outranked even physical health, academics, individual success; it outranked so many things by quite a bit. The importance of mental health was one of the biggest takeaways for us [as something we] need to think about in everything that we do.”
Another important finding was that music is central to this generation’s identity, even more so than interests like fashion and sports. In that regard, Pacsun is well positioned with its on-site presence at music festivals this summer, but Cox said this and other findings in the report will drive not only future brand activations but also product design and collaborations. Listen to the full conversation with Cox to learn:
- How Pacsun has transformed into a purpose-driven powerhouse;
- Additional insights from the first-annual Youth Survey;
- What co-creation looks like behind the scenes and how Pacsun pulls it off;
- How the company stays on top of social trends and leverages viral moments; and
- The power of “anemoia” (and what it is).
You can listen to the episode here or anywhere you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to share your own experiences and insights with the Retail TouchPoints community on LinkedIn.
