Can ‘90s Brands Make A Comeback With Today’s Teens?
The new look of Jane cosmetics. Photo: Courtesy of Jane.
Another sign of the ‘90s revival: Some of the grunge decade’s biggest brands are experiencing a comeback. As WWD reports, Jane cosmetics is embarking on its second relaunch. Last year, the teen-centric brand returned from years of dormancy. Now, with new packaging and updated formulas, Jane is about to hit Kohl’s stores. The fall collection is priced between $8 and $12, which makes us wonder if Jane is keeping ‘90s prices in mind as well.
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Jane isn’t the only teen-centric brand attempting to reach out to a new generation. Hard Candy is preparing a 20th-anniversary collection to be sold at Walmart, and Urban Decay has grown up (without losing its edge) since its 1996 debut. Some tried-and-true brands we loved in our youth—Wet ‘n Wild, Softlips, Bonne Bell—never left the shelves, but there’s one small challenge for any brand trying to reach modern teenagers: the Internet. Sure, it was around in the ‘90s, but only the most tech-savvy teens were “going online” back then. Social media didn’t exist, blogs were still coded by hand, and if you had a 56k dial-up modem, you had blazing fast web access. Most teenage girls got their beauty fix through watching TRL, reading magazines like YM and Sassy, and gabbing on the phone.
The original Hard Candy nail polish.
Related: Hard Candy Aims For a Comeback
Now? If a brand doesn’t “get” digital, it may as well not exist—particularly not to teenage girls, whose bubbly beauty tutorials and haul videos have flooded YouTube. That’s why this new iteration of Jane will have a digital focus, engaging consumers by making the brand’s makeup artists available via social media on Mondays. (On the male front, Abercrombie & Fitch—a ‘90s megabrand whose star has faded among Millennials—is partnering with Facebook to give away samples of its new men’s fragrance, Fierce Confidence.)
Abercombie & Fitch’s cologne relaunch.
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Of course, resonating with teens isn’t as simple as adding a hashtag to an Instagram photo. Yes, the medium matters—but the message matters more. Teens have always wanted to communicate about their lives; this generation is just doing it differently than any of the preceding ones. But if ‘90s brands like Jane and Hard Candy are able to connect with members of this digitally savvy generation, they may be able to thrive long after this nostalgic moment is over.
