Sweat Skorts and “It” Pencils: Back-to-School Special

Welcome back to After School Monday Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. 🫶

In today’s letter:

• A deep dive into back-to-school hauls and the top 15 purchases

• The line-around-the-block Dairy Boy pop-up (and Parke’s collegiate takeover)

• Chanty Beluga and a (the?) generational humor debate

• The rise of the young divorce influencer

• Hip tattoos and the Y2K body-gem revival

• The Santa Monification of New York

• Zillennials are collecting old Hondas now

And so much more, plus everything I’m buying, reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:

HAUL MANIA

Every year, I watch thousands of back-to-school hauls and tally up the most popular items. (Here’s 2025, 2024, and 2023.) This year, back-to-school spending is expected to hit a record $43.3 billion on K-12 students, up from $39.4 billion last year, though 40% of parents say they’re more financially stressed than they were in 2025. That might explain why more girls prefaced their hauls by noting they paid for most of the stuff themselves — though how, exactly, is unclear, given that fewer teens had jobs this summer. In any case, 2026’s hauls did not foretell economic doom, as you can see from the sheer volume of shopping bags.

1) Edikted Chiara Denim Micro Skirt, $54: By far the top item in back-to-school hauls was the denim mini. (And I do mean “mini” — dress codes do not appear to exist these days!) This Edikted one was mentioned the most, but PacSun and American Eagle have micro mini jean skorts that are in heavy rotation, too. Light blue washes were the clear favorite, but I also saw a lot of classic blue and faded black.

2) Brandy Melville Priscilla Pant, $24: “The wide-leg Priscilla pant that every girl in America owns,” as one girl put it. The foldover waistband is a particular selling point, as is the vast color range. One thing that isn’t vast, of course, is the sizing — like everything else from Brandy, it only comes in “XS/S.”

3) Garage StretchTerry Micro Skort, $50: Sweat skorts are the new sweatpants. The heather gray was the preferred shade, but I saw a few brave girls buy it in white, too. Sweat shorts, especially from Garage and Brandy Melville, were also mentioned a lot.

4) Lululemon New Crew Backpack, $98: Like last year, this is the backpack of choice, and, like last year, it isn’t even close! Black was the color of choice.

5) Brandy Melville Amara Tank, $18: “Everyone’s getting this,” one girl said, “and I just wanted to follow along lowkey.” This cross-front style — which to me looks more like a top than a tank, despite its name — is often paired with the previously mentioned Priscilla pants (in a matching color, as a set) or a micro jean skirt.

6) Garage UltraFleece Hoodie, $80: Specifically the gray one that has “Garage” embroidered across the back.

7) Garage Smooth Long Sleeve Wrap Top, $45: Girls are really into wrap tops. Very balletcore, and also quite practical — many mentioned layering these over camis or tube tops that they couldn’t otherwise get away with at school. This one from Garage was the most mentioned, but Urban Outfitters and Brandy Melville also make widely worn versions (they all look pretty much identical, at least to my eye…).

8) Lululemon Align No Line High-Rise Pant, $108: Aligns are so back — huge news for Lululemon and leggings, both of which have been declared effectively dead in the last year — though the “no-line” (i.e., no front seam) version is the only acceptable style.

9) Garage Snatch Booty Terry Pants, $70: These are colloquially known as the “BBL pants.” Girls mostly bought them in gray and maroon, and almost always also got the matching camisole or baby tee. Unlike years past, this was the only sweatpant of note; cargo sweats, which were last year’s No. 2 item, didn’t surface at all this season.

10) Birkenstock Boston Suede Clog, $170: Beyond being a timeless (if objectively “ugly”) classic, I think these shoes continue to be extremely popular with teens because they can be worn with jeans, sweats, leggings, shorts, and skirts, with socks or without.

11) Alo Match Point Tennis Skirt, $78: A lot of girls bought the matching Alo logo tank ($68) to wear with this. Alo’s tennis dresses — especially this one and this one — were also frequently mentioned.

12) FP Movement Hot Shot Strappy Romper, $70: This babydoll-style cotton romper was especially popular among college girls. The FP Movement Hot Shot Mini Skort ($58) was also a favorite.

13) Brandy Melville Ashlyn “NYC” Tee, $22: No matter what Fox News says, New York is more aspirational than ever, at least according to the sheer amount of “New York” graphic tees in back-to-school hauls. This patchwork baby tee came up the most, but this off-the-shoulder tee ($23) and crewneck sweatshirt ($45) came up a lot, too.

14) Brandy Melville Striped Makeup Bag, $18: The “it” makeup bag, if such a thing exists, though several girls said they planned to use it as a pencil case.

15) Adidas Samba Jane Sneaker, $100: Adidas Campuses and Sambas were all over hauls, but the Samba Jane was the clear winner this season. Asics, New Balance, and On running shoes rounded out the top sneakers; the girls ahead of the curve are beginning to buy black sneakers — Salomons, mostly — over the all-white styles that have dominated the last few seasons.

• There was an unspoken uniform for back-to-school hauls. I can’t overstate how many girls filmed their videos while wearing the $135 Parke mockneck fleece.

  

• Teal, coral, and candy pink are the coolest colors of the season. Quite the contrast to last year’s preferred color palette of butter yellow, brown, and sour cherry.