What’s in: Nostalgic school supplies. What’s out: Leggings and cellphones
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Nostalgic school supplies, denim and sweatpants are in with students this year.
- What's out? Cellphones and leggings.
The vibe: Status symbols look like reusable cups — goodbye Stanley cups and hello Owala — with '90s staples like Trapper Keepers and colorful Bic pens.
🖊️ Bic pens, TI-84 calculators and Trapper Keepers
The intrigue: What's old is new again with classics like Bic's 4-color pens and the TI-84, which have been part of back-to-school shopping lists for decades.
- These Bic pens celebrated their 50th anniversary back in 2020, and the TI-84 debuted in 2004, following the brand's first graphing calculator — TI-81 — that was unveiled in 1990.
- The Trapper Keeper, which had its heyday in the late '80s and early '90s, staged a comeback in 2021. It continues to be in demand along with other carryall binders.
- Other top items include Crayola crayons and colored pencils and composition books, which come in more styles than black marble.
🥤 Water bottle trend: Stanley cups, Owala and more
Water bottles continue to be a status symbol in schools, but the popular brand is what keeps changing.
- Tumbler brand Stanley's exclusive cups with Starbucks created a frenzy earlier in the year with shoppers lining up hours before Target stores opened.
- Owala, Lululemon and Hydro Flask are the "in" products this year, the New York Times reports.
👖 Back-to-school fashion favors sweatpants and denim
State of play: "Sweatpants are the new leggings," youth consumer trends expert Casey Lewis said on a recent TikTok.
- Lewis, who writes the After School Substack, spent hours watching back-to-school haul videos on TikTok to identify top fashion trends.
- "This year, it seems to be all about denim — jean shorts, jean skirts, denim jackets are making a comeback," Lewis said.
- Some of the items on Lewis' list: an Abercrombie's camo popover hoodie, Garage cargo fleece sweatpants, $98 Lululemon New Crew backpack in black, On Cloud all-white shoes and colorful Adidas Gazelle shoes.
Flashback: The Gazelle shoes first debuted in 1966, per Adidas.
- Retro shirts with characters from Strawberry Shortcake to Care Bears are also in.
📱 Cellphone bans and clear backpacks
The big picture: Trends being forced on students are the continued move to clear backpacks and sweeping bans on cellphones in schools.
- Administrators say the see-through backpacks can combat violence like school shootings.
- School districts in Virginia, Texas and Georgia have announced new clear backpack policies, according to Campus Safety Magazine.
Zoom in: The cellphone bans aim to get kids to pay attention during class and socialize with their peers IRL (in real life).
- Some schools found that bans increase student concentration and decrease cyber bullying, according to the NY Times.
The latest: Florida, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina have legislation that limits cellphone access, while governors in at least three states — Virginia, California and New York — have called on schools to restrict or ban phones.
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