• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Financeteenagers

These Are Teens’ Favorite Brands of 2017

By
Annalyn Kurtz
Annalyn Kurtz
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Annalyn Kurtz
Annalyn Kurtz
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 11, 2017, 12:08 PM ET
Teenage friends hanging out taking selfie and listening to music
Teenage friends hanging out taking selfie and listening to musicCaiaimage/Trevor Adeline Getty Images/Caiaimage
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Teenagers have spoken, and here’s what’s cool as of spring 2017:

Nike is still the top clothing and shoe brand, but Adidas is quietly staging a comeback. Snapchat remains the top social network for teens’ attention, but Facebook’s decline may not be as dramatic as some analysts had predicted. And Chick-fil-A has joined Starbucks at the top of teens’ preferred restaurants.

In the latest “Taking Stock With Teens” report, analysts at investment firm Piper Jaffray surveyed 5,500 teens with an average age of 16 and average household income of $66,100. They found two key trends.

Sign up: Click here to subscribe to the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

First, teen spending has been falling gradually since fall 2014; second, teens are shifting their spending toward experiences.

Food is now the single largest category for teenagers’ wallets, accounting for 24% of their spending, followed by clothing, which accounts for 19%. Ten years ago, the exact opposite was the case, with teens spending the larger share on clothes.

The clear winners here are Starbucks, which has remained teens’ top restaurant choice for at the least the last seven years, and Chick-fil-A, which has recently leapfrogged Chipotle, McDonald’s and Olive Garden among the favorite eateries.

Teens are increasingly showing a preference for limited-service restaurants, versus full-service eateries like Olive Garden—a trend that goes back to at least spring 2009, Piper Jaffray’s analysts noted.

Not surprisingly, time spent at the mall has been declining, whereas online shopping has been growing, with Amazon now ranking as teens’ top online retailer. Nike remains the favorite clothing brand, with American Eagle and Forever 21 next in line. Analysts noted that although Adidas lags behind Nike on both footwear and clothing, it’s recently been climbing the rankings at a faster pace.

A decade ago, this picture looked a lot different, with teens preferring Hollister, a subsidiary of Abercrombie & Fitch, as their top clothing brand. The retailer has struggled to make a comeback amid declining sales in recent years.

Meanwhile, Snapchat remains the king when it comes to social media, with 81% of teens indicating they used the app in the last month, and 79% naming it as a top three social platform.

Interestingly, however, Piper Jaffray’s analysts note the story for Facebook isn’t as dire as many on Wall Street had feared. Despite heavy competition, declines in Facebook’s level of engagement among teens has stalled, and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, continues to be a close number two to Snapchat.

“We believe that this data is most positive for Facebook as it conflicts with the belief that Snapchat is causing continual declines in usage,” Piper Jaffray’s analysts said in the report.

Instagram and even good old-fashioned email outranked Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook as teens’ preferred channel to hear about new products and promotions from retailers—a finding has important implications for the ability to monetize the social media platforms.

“We believe this is a bullish sign for the potential for higher ad load, click-through, and conversion rates on Instagram ads,” Piper Jaffray analyst Sam Kemp noted in the report.

He holds a neutral rating on Snap, saying that the market may have priced-in overly optimistic expectations for monetization, while there’s still significant potential “for headwinds from diversifying use cases at Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.”

Finally, the iPhone continues its reign as the top smartphone among teens, with 81% reporting they expect their next phone to be an iPhone—the highest level ever recorded in the survey.

About the Author
By Annalyn Kurtz
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

rn
CommentaryCryptocurrency
Former Iran director at NSC: Crypto legislation is a ticket to sanctions evasion
By Richard NephewJuly 2, 2026
38 minutes ago
Trump stopped talking about these media stocks, but his portfolio didn’t stop trading them
InvestingDonald Trump
Trump stopped talking about these media stocks, but his portfolio didn’t stop trading them
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 2, 2026
43 minutes ago
m
CommentaryManufacturing
McKinsey chairs: Building a more resilient industrial base may require $2 trillion in investment
By Eric Kutcher and Shubham SinghalJuly 2, 2026
45 minutes ago
Current price of Bitcoin for July 2, 2026
Personal FinanceCryptocurrency
Current price of Bitcoin for July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
Current price of Ethereum for July 2, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
Top CD rates from major banks July 2, 2026: Chase CDs, Bank of America CDs, Citibank CDs, and more
Personal FinanceCertificates of Deposit (CDs)
Top CD rates from major banks on July 2, 2026: Chase CDs, Bank of America CDs, Citibank CDs, and more
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
Politics
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 1, 2026
22 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.