Y2k style seems to be making its grand comeback with preteens and teenagers. Being an extreme success back in the early 2000s, teenagers nowadays favor this way of dressing due to its vibrant colors and look. 

Y2k is a trend of bringing back clothes from the early 2000s, like low rise jeans. Y2k gained its popularity due to it being a renewed look, as well as celebrities or social media creators doing sponsorships with brands like Shein, Forever 21. It also became popular just through Internet trends, like shopping hauls on Instagrams reels and “Get Ready With Me” on TikTok. 

Shein, being known as a popular brand for teenagers and young adults since its come-up in 2020, jumped on the trend of releasing y2k clothing at affordable prices, making it accessible for everyone. This helped the trend make a full comeback in the year 2022. 

Although Shein sells y2k clothes, stores like Romwe dedicate their whole website to it. From the different colors, textures, and types of jeans and cargo pants  to jackets, shirts and accessories like rings, earrings, necklaces, and more, brands now carry lots of y2k options. 

Celebrities, friends, or even creators on TikTok definitely impacted the trend by helping small business creators get high demands of certain pieces and/or accessories.

Rae Kirghizbaeva (he/him) says “School is the place I found out about this style, and where I decided to dive deeper. The thing that made me really want to try it out was the low rise jeans.” 

Kirghizbaeva states that although school had a big influence, his friend is the one who really pushed him into trying out this style. “Around September my friend showed me their y2k clothes and I really liked how it looked on them, so this inspired me to go ahead and buy some; and then I saw Tiktok, which really made my interest increase,” Kirghizbaeva says.  

Even if y2k is a recent style, only making its popular debut in early 2022, it doesn’t seem to die down any time yet. Competing with other popular styles like grunge, skater boy, early 90s, and many more. 

People say the end of this era is coming soon, while others believe it’s still going to stand for a little longer. Both can agree, y2k would be known as one of the most well-liked and recognized styles in the year 2022, and took the world by storm.