A Year in Review: Analysis and Rating of 2025 Consumer Trends

Hi, and welcome back. Today we're gonna take a look at 2025 consumer trends, and I'm gonna provide a bit of analysis/insight, along with a ranking. At the end of the day, my rankings are subjective, so yeah, that's it.

1) The Matcha Boom

This year saw the intense boom of matcha, specifically the iced matcha latte. It seemed like so many people were trying to get onto this trend, some of them def forcing themselves to like it. Now, I'm a matcha enjoyer, I won't lie. I fucking love matcha. That being said, my mom put me on matcha when I was a sophomore in highschool way back in 2021, so I've been around on this one. Personally, I don't care if people like matcha or not, as long as it stays in stock. What does piss me off though is that people are faking liking it, and then coming after me for being a "performative bastard" for messing with it. Let's be clear, this is my stuff, don't come at me. Anyway I'll end the angry rant there, but I'll give a couple opinions. Firstly, iced matcha latte, fantastic. If you really want to give it a try but you're struggling with the bitter flavor, I would suggest adding some vanilla. It ends up playing really well with the creamy tea aspect going on. Moving on, the addition of matcha to other items is where this starts to get shaky. I get the matcha frappe, but honestly its a bit overrated. Still decent though. Stuff like matcha chocolate, matcha cookies, matcha scones etc, is where it goes a little far. I got a matcha scone here in Tokyo the other day and it was decent, although the matcha chocolate I tried was pretty bad. Personally, lets keep it to matcha lattes.

Personal grade: 9

Overall grade: 7

2) The Baggy Jeans Epidemic

Baggy jeans is a trend I never actually dabbled in, but I'd say it was a mixed bag. For full transparency, I woulda been all in on this, except it's almost impossible to get some baggy jeans when you're 6'6. I'd say this was a blessing in disguise though, because it forced me to develop my personal style a bit more. I found the beauty of a loose-straight pair of pants, and I'm not looking back. I feel like other cuts of jeans are far more timeless than baggy jeans, and this will probably fade out a bit more like skinny jeans, although a full return to skinny is not gonna happen any time soon. Now, I've been giving baggy jeans a lot of shit, but honestly, this trend isn't necessarily bad. It get's too a point though, and there are jeans that are just too damn large. It's also a lot worse when the jeans just don't fit your waist, it just looks sloppy. I'm looking to design some pants this year and I like the wide leg (depending on material), but you better bet they're gonna fit better in the ass. Also, let me add real quick here, if you are gonna belt up some big ass pants (I've been there no shame), just don't let them be selvedge, that material is just too stiff and the butt always looks weird.

Personal 7.5

Overall grade: 7.8

3) Selvedge Denim

Next up, selvedge denim. Now, this one is tuff, because funny enough I just purchased a pair of selvedge a few days ago. I think there are ways to do this right, and ways to do this seriously wrong. Now, I don't think that participating in trends is bad, it's just about picking something you want to participate in. I think the craftsmanship and the story telling that happens with selvedge is fantastic, along with the quality of the actual pants. What bothers me a little with selvedge is when people just slap the name on something, just to jack the price. If you're gonna manufacture some denim, why not tell a real story, instead of using selvedge to sell pairs? Building on this, it is my personal opinion that selvedge works best when it opperates outside the bounds of what is currently trending. Let me explain. I think that overly baggy selvedge pants are cool. It's true, they look really cool. However, after starting to break in my pair of replica WWII 501 selvedge, these things are STIFF. If you're gonna be buying jeans for 200+ dollars, and having to break them in yourself (if they're raw selvedge), buying some baggy ass pants is gonna be a little crazy. There's just so much material and it will be so stiff it's gonna make wearing them miserable. You want to be able to live in your clothes, not just post a cool photo on instagram, just my thoughts. This is a trend I really like, and honestly, if buying some selvedge makes you happy and helps reduce your consumer footprint, go for it.

Personal grade: 9

Overall grade: 8.3

4) The Dastardly Labubu

This right here is where society comes to die. The Labubu is kind of funny, but it adds zero value what-so-ever to soceity. This right here is the most obvious interpretation of the "next thing" that people feel the need to buy. We saw Beanie Babies back in the day, Jellycats, Squishmallows, and even Bok Choy Boys if any of you remember those. Those were cool though, I fuck with Bock Choy Boys bring those back. Anyway, the Labubu is honestly just the consumerism final boss, and the fact that you buy them in mystery boxes is thinly veiled gambling and honestly quite similar to the "Hypebeast Myster Boxes" we saw in the late 2010s early 2020s. Don't buy this, it's shit and a waste of money, especially if you're a grown adult. You're destroying the planet.

Personal grade: 0

Overall grade: 1

5) The Arc'teryx Beanie

This one is actually quite interesting, and it's one that I tried to get into (got scammed fuck you ebay). I don't mind these at all, you just have to take it for what it is. Does it look cool, yes. Is it worth $60, ehhhh... if you're okay paying that. This beanie also reflects a shift towards skull caps being cool again, so honestly I thank Arc'teryx for that. I recently bought a Patagonia beanie with a cool logo thing going on, so thank you Arc'teryx again. I really have nothing bad to say about this, I think these are swag. They look great in streetwear, but where they can really thrive is in the granola-inspired outfits. Call me a bot if you want, but these beanies are really cool. I'm sure these will fade a bit in the next year or two (in terms of popularity), but they deserve a place in the market, considering all these outdoor/mountaineering brands make beanies anyway. One of my favorite trends of the year for sure, I have no complaints.

Personal grade: 9

Overall grade: 8.6

6) Mary Janeification of Sneakers

Over the last couple years we have seen the boom in "the flat sneaker". Starting with the Adidas Samba and growing from there, everyone and their mother wanted a flat shoe. But this trend had to go somewhere, and I'm glad it went this direction. Although I can't personally participate in this trend, I really do like it, and I would love it to stick around. I think mary janes are really cute shoes, and they're very stylish. I like that it has drifted into sneakers as well, combining flat styles of shoes, mary janes, and almost a ballet slipper shape all in one. I think these really are fantastic, and the outfits I've seen in them are always really really good. No notes on this one, I'd like to see these stay. No notes, no complaints. Sneaker brands: keep doing what you're doing.

Personal grade: 9.5

Overall grade: 9

7) Pinstripe Pants

In 2025 we saw the rise of pinstripe pants, specifically pinstripe denim. This is a classic style that made the jump from traditional menswear to denim. It is also a look for railway uniforms, so this pattern is really not new at all. I'm a personal fan of this look because I think it creates good tension in an outfit, while opening up the directional possibilities of the fit. I feel like these kind of pants can easily be dressed up or down, depending on the person wearing them. They're also a safer option for a "statement piece", allowing them to be worn in many outfits.

Personal grade: 8

Overall grade: 8

8) Quarter Zips

By far one of the most interesting trends of the year was the quarter zip (QZ) trend. This was a definitely more of a niche microtrend simply due to its launch late in 2025. I didn't really participate in this trend, which is interesting considering I tend to like sweaters. That being said, I thrift a lot of my clothes and finding a good QZ there is harder than you'd think. Although this was a "trend", I would say QZs are pretty timeless, and they won't be going anywhere. If anything, this trend simply shed some light on a somewhat disrespected part of the sweater industry. I figure I should also lightly touch on the fact that this trend quickly became racialized in a negative way. I won't get into extreme detail but it's really disappointing that QZs were used to push the racist agenda of needing to "fix" young black men. Now, I'm not a young black man, but it was painful to watch as this trend spiraled into masked racism. While this trend has left a bad taste in my mouth regaurding social issues, the clothing itself is still pretty good. If you want to try out a QZ, I'd say go for it, they're pretty nice.

Personal grade: 8

Overall grade: 8.2

9) Niccotine Products

It seems that over the last couple years, the growth of niccotine products has been significant. With vapes booming and then settling down again after a few years, we've recently seen the revamp of traditional niccotine products like cigarettes, while also seeing a boom in modern niccotine, specifically nic pouches like Zyn. It's interesting to see cigs and pouches grow at the same time, especially considering the starck dichotomy of these two products. So what is causing this? Honestly, there isn't one specific reason, but I'll propose a couple ideas for thought. With the rise in social media clout chasing in different forms (ex. aura farming, performative males, etc.), it isn't crazy to say that people are smoking cigs and ripping pouches because it is simply seen as "cool". Want a cool photo on a night out? Cigarette. Want to bond with the "bro guys" in your class? Throw them a pouch. Another possible angle on this popularity boom is the rising way of conservatism in the U.S. No matter what side of the aisle you sit on, it's easy to see that the conservative push seems to be at an all time high. Niccotine products, especially cigarettes, are often associated with the Right, so it's not crazy to say that the growth in popularity of this traditional method of niccotine consumption could be associated with the boom of conservative values. The third and probably most concrete answer is simply, niccotine never went away. It's often said that evil doesn't die, it simply reinvents itself, and this is true. Niccotine has always been present in American society, and I predict it will remain that way for a significant amount of time.

Personal grade: 4

Overall grade: 4.3