‘The return of Vans Warped Tour, Y2K, and indie-sleaze’: How Millennial Nostalgia Has Become the Biggest Cash-Grab Since Student Loans

Y2K is becoming cool again.

Millennials and Gen Z are romanticizing the tech-free days of the early 2000s with its excessive aesthetic, rebellious nature, and excitingly edgy offensiveness. Originality may be dying, but the market wants the feel-good memories from our youth, not something unfamiliar or innovative. Why improve or change anything when you can just resell a product you know will be a hit? Consumer brands are not only cashing in on this nostalgia, but they’re taking the copy/paste approach to their ideation. 

Besides, this generation has lived through multiple once-in-a-lifetime cataclysms, the dawn of the Internet, and sociopolitical turmoil–all before turning 35. So since we’ll never actually pay off our student loans, why don’t we spend our meager paychecks on something more tangible–feeling like we’re young again.