The Swoosh remains the top footwear brand of teens, gaining 600 basis points year-over-year to a 47 percent share, according to Piper Sandler’s “Taking Stock With Teens Survey” for Spring 2020. Vans held steady in the second position at 20 percent and Adidas was at 11 percent versus 13 percent in Spring 2019 survey. Other notables takeaways from the ranking of “favorite footwear brands”: Under Armour dropped to 14th from 9th in Piper’s Fall 2019 survey (and 12th in Spring 2019); Dr. Martens came in at 8th, and Crocs moved from 7th in the Fall survey to 12th, its highest springtime ranking yet in the semi-annual study.

Overall footwear spending declined 5 percent year-over-year to $284 annually, led by a mid-teens decline in spending by female teens, Piper Sandler reported. The 39th study by the investment research unit found that annual apparel spending among all teens has declined 24 percent since 2005 to $523; teen female spending on footwear has been flat over the same span; and teen male spending on footwear has risen more than 70 percent over the last 15 years to $334 annually.

“Sneaker culture has been the driving force behind male spending increases and is gaining share among females,” the Piper Sandler report states.

Nike is also the favorite apparel brand among teens at 25 percent, versus 23 percent in Fall 2019 and 22 percent in Spring 2019 in the same survey. Adidas remained third, but flat year-over-year at 5 percent. Lululemon was 6th and Vans was 10th at 2 percent share, as Champion apparel fell to 11th from 10th in Fall 2019.

So what are teen consumers, part of Gen Z, most concerned about? The environment (16 percent) remained the top issue as in Fall 2019, but the Coronavirus (11 percent) and abortion (8 percent) replaced immigration and gun control as the second and third most-important issues to the group. Meanwhile, 47 percent of teens surveyed believed the economy is getting worse versus 28 percent in Spring 2019, with higher mentions of the “stock market” and the “economy.”