Do kids still chase 'must have' brands?

[Groundfloor]

It dawned on me the other day that neither my teenage son or daughter have ever asked for or lobbied for specific branded goods, which naturally I'm really pleased about, however it seems such a contrast to when I was at school.

I remember that there was always a 'must have' item, product or craze where kids where always nagging their parents for the next 'thing'.

I remember vividly how important it was for so many to have right branded sports bag for school, or the right trainers, or the right clothes etc (I seldom got these, thanks to balanced and rational parents despite asking).

Was that a just a period of time that has passed, or am I just lucky with my two?

I asked them about this and they didn't have a clue what I was going on about and couldn't conceive of the idea of judging someone or even caring what brand of clothes or shoes they wore.

Is this relatively unique to my kids and their school, or is this a reflection of the current generation?

Mine like certain brands, more so as they got to be older teens.
I think kids have always liked brands but a lot depends on their ages.

Neither dd or ds care but a lot of their peers do (mine are 13 and 16)

Of course they do, and there's nothing wrong with it in most cases.

I think it is area dependent if brands are a big deal. Within that there will of course also be individuals who do / don't care. Growing up my cousins who lived near a major city were really into brands which I don't think were even for sale in my town! Cousins were quite posh. In my work there are certain working class areas where clothing is an important way of showing status (to some).
I didn't care about brands particularly but did once buy a purse from River Island to have the carrier bag for my school books (I'm nearly 40. Still consider RI a bit aspirational for my money!)

I went to secondary school during 97 - 03 and those years were the brand years. Moschino, Evisu, certain patterened jeans etc. Grief, my poor parents! I think its more about trends than brands now though.

I think it’s still a thing to be honest. My dd aged 16 won’t wear any trainers unless they’re Adidas or converse. Her friends are all the same. They’d rather keep wearing a pair of converse that are literally falling apart at the seams than wear new shoes from primark or new look etc.

I do think it’s mainly shoes though... dd will happily wear clothes from primark / h and m and new look etc and even loves vintage / charity shops, as do all her friends. Just the shoes / trainers have to be new and branded.

For my DD it's all about having a certain look. I see the girls come out of school and they all look the same. Brands are important for some things but not others. All dd's friends have branded trainers but are quite happy to buy clothes from Primark, to complete the 'look' they want. At the moment it's more about getting loads of clothes for a (relatively) small amount of money. DD is 12.
For my older teens, brands are really important.

Agree with pp that it is about the right "look" rather than the right brands. IME it tends to be that they need to have (eg) tracky bottoms and a hoody, obviously there will always be a certain kudos attached to brand, but the overall style is more important.

Yes but obviously not all kids.

DS1 is obsessed with brands, I could never care less as a child.

Neither of my children (20 and 16) have been bothered but my niece (11) is really fixed about what brands she has. I have no idea if the number of children that care has increased or decreased since my time though.

Mine are much less brand obsessed than I was as a teen. Although they have more choice than I did, my parents didn't have a lot of spare cash for that kind of thing so maybe that's why I feel I longed for things more.

DD is more interested than DS1 but neither are really fussed.

DS1 is more bothered about not wearing certain brands, nothing Nike, The North Face, Under Armour, Hype, EA7 there's others too. The 'roadman' look is very popular here and is associated with drugs, crime and general antisocial behaviour, DS and his friends prefer to set themselves apart from that.

Just googled 'roadman'

I think a more appropriate name would be 'bleak'.

I googled roadman, all I got was a man who works on the roads

Trainers, phones and school bags here - only specific brands are acceptable - but as PPs have said, less rigid on clothes. Thankfully.