Nostalgia is everywhere. And while yearning for the past is nothing new, its ubiquity in modern marketing and commerce is fueled by digital platforms that make it easier than ever to revisit the imagery, music, and aesthetics of earlier decades—transforming memory into a shared, searchable experience.
As of October 2025, TikTok’s #nostalgia hashtag included 16.9 million posts, with almost 100 billion views, while #90s and #Y2K add tens of billions more. Brands across industries are reviving the past to create emotional connections with modern consumers. Non-alcoholic beverage maker Ghia paired the fall 2025 release of its Blood Orange spritz with a vintage soccer jersey reminiscent of Italian leisurewear, while fitness equipment company Bala styled its campaigns in shimmering 1980s-era spandex. Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skin care brand, looked to a supermodel-filled 1990s Versace campaign for inspiration in a recent shoot.
Two generations in particular, Gen Z and millennials, are driving this nostalgic resurgence. According to consumer-insights platform GWI, 15% of Gen Z say they’d rather think about the past than the future, compared with 14% of millennials. Roughly half of both generations report feeling nostalgic for certain kinds of media. These two younger cohorts also represent the fastest-growing consumer spenders, which makes their nostalgic preferences especially influential for brands seeking cultural relevance and long-term loyalty.
From beverages and beauty to fitness and gaming, nostalgia has become a design language and marketing strategy. To understand how it drives customer connection and sales, Shopify spoke to brands in apparel, technology, and music about the ways they’re tapping this emotional connection in their product design, branding, and campaigns. When done right, it can be a powerful way to increase brand awareness with new customers while also building loyalty among longtime fans.
Blending the past and present for a fresh retro appeal
The most effective nostalgia strategies remix the past rather than recreate it. By combining vintage aesthetics with contemporary functionality, brands can tap into consumers’ emotional connection to bygone eras while staying relevant to modern tastes, needs, and standards.
This approach gives brands flexibility: They can borrow design cues and emotional tone from the past but reinterpret them for inclusivity, sustainability, and practicality.
Sunscreen maker Vacation embodies this balance. Its marketing channels the 1980s jet-set lifestyle through playful packaging and campaigns inspired by sun-drenched getaways to the French Riviera, but its product formulas use SPF 30 and 21st-century ingredients. Similarly, denim label RE/DONE reconstructs vintage Levi’s jeans into contemporary fits, giving retro denim a second life. Fashion brands ModCloth and DÔEN translate vintage silhouettes into inclusive and wearable pieces, expanding accessibility with extended sizing and thoughtful design updates, such as nursing-friendly cuts.
At Cloak and Dagger, founder Brookelynn Starnes modernizes silhouettes from the 1960s and 1970s to make them, as she describes, “less costume-y and more wearable.” In addition to its ability to blend seamlessly into contemporary fashion, the aesthetic sells because of the cinematic and cultural universe it references, namely the French new wave, 1960s New York, and the London youthquake. The brand’s imagery reinforces that vision, featuring models chatting on rotary phones and reading vintage paperbacks.
“Our clothing has never been meant to be taken too literally,” Brookelynn says. “I believe all our clients appreciate history and vintage and enjoy the nostalgia of it all.”
Reviving brand heritage to build authentic nostalgia
Nostalgia doesn’t always mean looking outward; it can come from a brand’s own story and tradition. Mining their own archives allows brands to celebrate their history while reintroducing familiar products and themes for new audiences. This approach reminds long-term customers why they loved the products in the first place while introducing younger shoppers to the brand in an authentic way.
In the luxury sector, where consumers increasingly equate value with timelessness, heritage revival has become a powerful strategy. With market growth slowing, luxury brands like Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton have leaned into their archives to reinforce identity. McQueen reissued its iconic mid-2000s Skull Scarf, while Vuitton reunited with artist Takashi Murakami for a handbag line 20 years after their first collaboration.
Archive mining isn’t just reserved for brands with the heritage and pedigree of a McQueen or Vuitton, however. Brands like Juicy Couture and 7 for All Mankind have revived early-2000s hero products with modern updates. In 2020, Juicy relaunched its signature velour tracksuits (first designed in 2001 for Madonna) with new variants and sustainable fabrics, and 7 for All Mankind launched a retooled version of its original bootcut jeans, also focused on sustainability. These reissues resonate across generations, with long-term customers returning for nostalgia and younger shoppers discovering the appeal of early-2000s style.
Heritage marketing also thrives in brand collaborations that celebrate cultural moments in addition to brand histories. When the Vans Warped Tour music festival marked its 30th anniversary in 2025, Vans “dug deep into the archives to create official merch that nods to the legacy while introducing fresh designs for today,” says Kristy Van Doren, director of events and activations at Vans. “One standout for me is the Classic Slip-On, covered in an all-over print of vintage Warped Tour posters, a perfect blend of retro and timeless design. It feels like a piece of history you can wear.”
The venerable footwear and accessories brand’s relationship with nostalgia runs deep. According to Kristy, the Warped Tour was many people’s first real concert, and it brought them together and made them feel like part of something bigger. “Everyone—punk, emo, skaters, jocks, artists—found common ground there, shouting the same lyrics and feeling connected. Vans has always had a place for the misfits, and Warped Tour was a place where those misfits felt like family,” she says.
Analog experiences to counter over-digitalization
As digital fatigue grows, a longing for pre-tech simplicity has become a selling point. Brands are finding success by bringing back tactile, analog experiences that counterbalance constant connectivity. Just check out the Analog Bag trend on TikTok, where millions of posts show off totes filled with analog activities like crossword puzzles and craft supplies. Such products tap into feelings of nostalgia and a desire for more intentional technological consumption.
The trend isn’t limited to classic analog favorites like vinyl records or instant cameras. As with the retro trend, it’s about reinterpreting rather than just repeating. For example, 35mm sells the Reloader, a vintage-inspired analog camera designed to help users document their lives “for the sake of memories, not performance or social media,” says founder Madison Stefanis. Part of Gen Z herself, she says 35mm’s customers are “drawn to the 1990s/2000s because it feels free of the pressures of perfection that come with social media.”
The brand Tin Can Kids takes it one step further. Its product—WiFi-enabled, landline phones designed to evoke 1990s cartoons—pushes back against children getting hooked on screens. “Our branding has elements that harken back to my own childhood, but that’s not a driver of our business overall,” says founder Chet Kittleson. “We wanted to create something parents instantly recognize, but also something kids genuinely love. Our goal isn’t to recreate the past. I think people are romanticizing that earlier feeling of ease, but what they really want is balance.” The brand offers parents the ability to limit their children’s exposure to digital tech, describing its service as “a telephone club for friends to chat voice-to-voice during the no-smartphone years.”
Even puzzle makers are reaping the benefits of analog appeal. Jigsaw puzzle maker Le Puzz blends nostalgic artwork and absurdism, while CreativeCrafthouse produces handcrafted wooden puzzles and brain teasers that look straight out of the 1970s and encourage hands-on play over screen time. These products succeed because they transform nostalgia for the pre-digital world into a mindful, shareable experience.
Sparking connection with pop culture nostalgia
Pop culture nostalgia is one of the most effective shortcuts to emotional connection. Barbie became 2023’s highest-grossing film, with set designs modeled after actual 1980s and 1990s toys, and Nintendo’s recent Mario redesign softened characters’ proportions to mirror their 1980s origins.
By referencing a familiar franchise, character, or era, brands can tap into shared cultural memory, even if the product itself isn’t particularly nostalgia-focused. The key is to choose partnerships or references that feel authentic to both the brand’s identity and its audience.
For example, makeup line ColourPop has many limited-edition collaborations under its belt—with Shrek, Bratz, Sailor Moon, the Grinch, and others—that influence packaging and makeup colors. The strategy creates immediate buzz and multi-generational appeal, drawing in both longtime fans and younger consumers discovering these icons for the first time.
Other companies use pop culture tie-ins to translate mood and meaning. Skin care brand Bliss recently partnered with Gilmore Girls actress Kelly Bishop for a line that evoked the show’s cozy, small-town atmosphere, while cookware brand Lodge Cast Iron collaborated with Dolly Parton to capture her down-to-earth Southern charm. Even beverage company Olipop has leveraged collaborations with Barbie and SpongeBob, creating cross-generational appeal.
