For the third year in a row, Goldman Sachs' equity research team and Teen Vogue's fashion experts put together 2015's definitive "Teen Vogue-Goldman Sachs Love List" — a list of the top-20 brands that matter the most to "It Girls."
In order to determine the degree of "love-ability", the analysts scored each brand based on familiarity, affinity, and "word of mouth," or how much respondents discussed a brand relative to others — key in the era of Instagram.
Athletic brands shot up in popularity this year. Nike was in the top 5, and Adidas showed the largest gain in affinity out of any brand. Goldman doesn't touch on this, but it's worth noting that many millennial-popular starlets like Kylie Jenner routinely post photos of themselves in Adidas gear, which no doubt affected its ranking.
Beauty brands are "in the sweet spot" as they are "well-loved and well-owned."
On the flip side, fashion brands were "floundering" as "favorability metrics generally declined from last year."
Mall-centric apparel brands like American Apparel and Hollister are struggling, and most hangbag brands are "falling flat."
Check out the full list below.
20. Free People
Familiarity: 69%
Affinity: 83.1%
Word of Mouth: 66.1%
Composite: 72.7%
19. Marc Jacobs
Familiarity: 84.5%
Affinity: 77.2%
Word of Mouth: 56.9%
Composite: 72.9%
18. Steve Madden
Familiarity: 80.8%
Affinity: 78.4%
Word of Mouth: 60%
Composite: 73.1%
17. Louis Vuitton
Familiarity: 83.2%
Affinity: 75.2%
Word of Mouth: 61.3%
Composite: 73.2%
16. Maybelline
Familiarity: 90.6%
Affinity: 74.2%
Word of Mouth: 57.8%
Composite: 74.2%
15. Vans
Familiarity: 90.6%
Affinity: 70.3%
Word of Mouth: 64.6%
Composite: 75.1%
14. Urban Decay
Familiarity: 78.2%
Affinity: 81.5%
Word of Mouth
Advertising
Composite: 75.7%
13. Sephora Makeup
Familiarity: 85.9%
Affinity: 78.2%
Word of Mouth: 64.7%
Composite: 76.3%
12. Bath and Body Works
Familiarity: 92.2%
Affinity: 73%
Word of Mouth: 68.7%
Composite: 77.9%
11. Eos
Familiarity: 89.7%
Affinity: 76%
Word of Mouth: 69.4%
Composite: 78.4%
10. Target
Familiarity: 94.7%
Affinity: 74.3%
Word of Mouth: 69%
Composite: 79.4%
9. Urban Outfitters
Familiarity: 89.9%
Affinity: 78.6%
Word of Mouth: 70.8%
Composite: 79.8%
8. Converse
Familiarity: 94%
Affinity: 78.4%
Word of Mouth: 72.2%
Composite: 81.5%
7. H&M
Familiarity: 92.9%
Affinity: 79%
Word of Mouth: 72.8%
Composite: 81.6%
6. Mac
Familiarity: 88.2%
Affinity: 84.5%
Word of Mouth: 74.6%
Composite: 82.5%
5. Sephora
Familiarity: 91.5%
Affinity: 82.8%
Word of Mouth: 74.3%
Composite: 82.9%
4. Nike
Familiarity: 93%
Affinity: 83.6%
Word of Mouth: 76.0%
Composite: 84.2%
3. Victoria's Secret
Familiarity: 94.6%
Affinity: 81.5%
Word of Mouth: 78.3%
Composite: 84.8%
2. Pink Victoria's Secret
Familiarity: 93.7%
Affinity: 81.9%
Word of Mouth: 80.1%
Composite: 85.2%
1. Forever 21
Familiarity: 96.9%
Affinity: 81.4%
Word of Mouth: 83.5%
Composite: 87.3%
