If you’ve been online the past month at all, you likely encountered at least one hyper-saturated, neon-colored throwback post captioned somewhat along the lines of: “2026 is the new 2016.” What started as a social media meme could be lighting the fire for a broader shift in the cultural zeitgeist that might also boost retail brands synonymous with the era.
The trend has dominated the social media cycle the past few weeks. On Jan. 16, a Spotify-linked Instagram account revealed that user-generated “2016” playlists soared more than 790% since Jan. 1, with top tracks added including Zara Larsson’s “Lush Life” and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry.” The post’s caption was: “2026 is the new 2016.” A day earlier, the Instagram account for Hollister, a subsidiary brand of Abercrombie & Fitch, posted a heavily filtered carousel depicting emblems of 2016, including Polaroid cameras and the era’s quintessential skinny jeans.
Meanwhile, relative search volume for “2016 aesthetic” worldwide spiked to all-time highs on Google recently, underscoring the trend’s growing traction.
While the 2016 resurgence is playing out online, the question crossing investors’ minds is whether this nostalgia reset could translate into a retail revival for brands that once defined the mid-2010s. One sign that the nostalgia wave is translating into real-world consumer behavior is that young adults are rediscovering the appeal of brick-and-mortar shopping after years of e-commerce dominance.
“Not that they don’t buy most of their stuff online, but they like being in the store,” Jan Kniffen, CEO of J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide Enterprises, a retail consultant, said in an interview with CNBC.
The shift reflects a deeper cultural undercurrent, as younger consumers increasingly find themselves longing for the carefree and familiar comfort of the mid-2010s.
Reset shaped by today’s economic unease
Joel Marlinarson, social media strategist and owner of Coldest Creative, first identified the 2016 nostalgia trend in a TikTok post last July that has been viewed 1.1 million times. Marlinarson told CNBC that many Gen-Zers look back at the time as one that was less performative and more authentic, particularly as it relates to social media.
“I think people see this era as a universal feeling of the world being lighter,” he said.
Jamie Cohen, a digital culture expert and assistant professor of media studies at Queens College in New York, told CNBC that this “consistent retro nostalgia” is in line with young adults reminiscing about the last period of time before the “ensh*ttiification” of social media.
“There’s a yearning for that period of simplicity in the aesthetic, of course, that leads into fashion as well,” he said.
Joanne Hsu pointed to a more structural issue — the earlier period was defined by a strong economy post-financial crisis, underpinned by low interest rates and inflation. By contrast, Hsu, director of consumer surveys at the University of Michigan, believes that the revival today is a negative reaction to the volatility of high prices and unsettled politics.
“Consumers are kind of thinking about the current state of the economy relative to what it was before in the years prior to the pandemic,” she told CNBC. “Before the pandemic, things felt so much better.”
Hsu added that price pressures often push consumers to pull back on big-ticket purchases while continuing to spend selectively on smaller, feel-good items. She also pointed out that, historically, young adults have tended to be more optimistic views than older populations. But the last couple of years have seen a convergence as younger populations feel just as negative about the economy.
“What’s clearer now is that it is not just nostalgia, it’s also a form of risk aversion,” Kniffen wrote in an email to CNBC. “When society feels unstable to the consumer, they don’t innovate aesthetically. They revert to the last era that felt ‘manageable.'”
Kniffen told CNBC that retail trends typically last about 18 months. He expects this 2016 nostalgia cycle to have staying power through at least this year’s midterm election, and suspects it could last another nine months after that.
“‘2026 is 2016’ is not just a trend cycle,” said Kniffen. “Maybe it’s also a coping mechanism. But, whatever it is, it’s real.”
Turning nostalgia into retail revival
The brands that could benefit include ones that not only evoke rose-colored times, but also those successfully embody the ideals that “vibes-based Gen-Zers” seek — more authenticity and less intentionality, Cohen, the media studies professor, said.
Marlinarson believes that the brands best poised to win are those with high awareness that have lost the cultural relevance they had in 2016.
“It’s the brands that haven’t maintained that cultural relevance that are using this as an opportunity to remind,” the social media strategist said. “The emotional tie that people have with brands that they wore when they were 10, when they were 15 — that’s always going to be something that brands can latch onto.”
With the added benefit of time, brands that have previously suffered public relations disasters, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, now have the opportunity to distance themselves from past controversies.
Abercrombie & Fitch is one company that Kniffen believes could ride this 2016 nostalgia wave, with both the flagship brand and Hollister in the “right place, right time” to capitalize on the 2016-esque “peak casual but hot fashion.”
Fans wait as Lucy Hale appears at the Hollister store at Westfield Century City Mall to launch her collection on Aug. 9, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
Jason Merritt | Getty Images
As long as the company can successfully “edit out all of the bad parts,” management might have a shot at making a comeback, Cohen said. “There’s just so much of the past that isn’t welcome in the present,” he added.
Kniffen sees Levi Strauss benefiting from a return to skinny and slim-straight fit jeans, applauding recent collaborations and collections that successfully revived old silhouette cuts. Along the same lines, American Eagle Outfitters could also gain by specializing in “classic denim normcore.” Although the company has struggled recently, there’s room for a turnaround given its dominance in 2016, Kniffen said.
Kniffen also likes Victoria’s Secret, which arguably was at the zenith of its cultural popularity in 2016. The brand has made solid efforts to reclaim its market position, such as by shifting its strategy to focus more on inclusiveness and bringing back its runway fashion show in 2024 after a multi-year hiatus.
Stella Maxwell walks the runway during Lady Gaga’s performance at Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at Grand Palais in Paris, France, on Nov. 30, 2016.
Hubert Boesl | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Urban Outfitters was a brand that Kniffen highlighted as a potential beneficiary that has recently been doing well and was culturally important in 2016, as were its Anthropologie and Free People brands. Stacey Widlitz, president of SW Retail Advisors, applauded Urban’s relatively new President of North America Shea Jensen as the driving factor behind the company’s ability to successfully pinpoint future trends.
“They’ve really been able to be more in touch with what’s cool, what’s trending, and capitalize on that whereas in the past many years, the brand was a little lost,” Widlitz said in a CNBC interview. “If there’s a throwback nostalgia play, that would probably be the most likely.”
Coty and Kylie
Another company that could lead the charge is beauty company Coty, which owns a controlling stake in Kylie Cosmetics. Founded by Kylie Jenner, the brand’s lip kits were an essential part of the 2016 makeup routine. The company has done a great job embracing the era’s return, said Malissa Tiwari, social media strategist and owner of Marketing with M. As evidence, Tiwari pointed to Jenner’s recent collection rollout on Snapchat, where she resuscitated her maximalist “King Kylie” persona that swarmed social media in 2016.
“Being one of the most culturally relevant beauty brands at the time, Kylie has used this as an opportunity to really position herself as the OG of the celebrity beauty brand playbook,” Marlinarson added.
A view of atmosphere during Kylie Jenner’s 10 Years of Kylie Cosmetics Celebration with Friends & Family on Oct. 17, 2025 in West Hollywood, California.
Phillip Faraone | Getty Images
Jenner was among a group of celebrities to share a 2016 throwback on her own Instagram. A post from Jan. 15 with the caption, “you just had to be there,” has received five million likes.
Fellow cosmetics maker e.l.f. Beauty is another company that Tiwari sees leaning into the 2016 trend, with the brand tapping Nina Dobrev to star in a recent campaign. Dobrev starred in the CW show “The Vampire Diaries” from 2009 to 2017.
As 2016 sneaker culture again rears its head, Kniffen believes that Foot Locker, acquired by Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2025, stands to gain. “These retailers benefit every time a ‘retro-core’ cycle revives dead sneaker stock,” he wrote to CNBC.
Kniffen also sees a chance for Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, now owned by PVH, to exploit a return to “classic normcore” as the “older of the young” get in on the trend. Oliver Chen, retail analyst at TD Cowen, highlighted Coach, owned by Tapestry, as a brand that could win with Gen Z owing to nostalgia, quality and marketing.
Other social media discourse highlighted the publicly traded companies Snapchat, famous for its flower crown filters that took off in the mid-2010s, and V.F. Corporation, which owns Vans, as other companies that could spearhead the return to 2016. Outside of retail, Marlinarson believes that Coca-Cola could win after the company brought back its “Share a Coke” campaign “for a New Generation” last year.
