Your Guide to Understanding Gen Zers and Their Wellness Habits: Part 1

Fitness, Fashion and Finances

Whether you own a brand and want to learn the secrets of the trade on Gen Z marketing, or just an individual scratching your head at how this generation thinks and makes decisions — here is your guide to cracking the code.

For decades and throughout past generations, “fitness” was a term used to describe physical ability and a socially-acceptable body aesthetic.

So, what does it mean to Gen Z?

Well, Gen Zers (born after 1997 and before 2012) have a lot to say about fitness, but they don’t stop there. Enter the umbrella buzzword “wellness”: an encompassing term that includes not only physical fitness, but nutrition, mental health, brand involvement, and even spirituality. Whether Gen Z is conscious or not of the new perspectives it has brought to the wellness industry, it has certainly caused a disruption.

Fitness, Fashion and Finances

1. Gen Z is more active than you think.

Both Millennials and Gen Z have been dubbed “Generation Active”, and it’s no secret that fitness clubs exploded with the emergence of Millennials. But with now being the largest generation in the United States, Gen Z made up for 38% of all gym memberships globally in 2018. According to a survey by Les Mills, 87% reported that they work out 3 or more times a week, and 43% prefer to work out at home. 65% enjoy the help of fitness apps, and 28% use wearable technology, like Fitbit or Apple Watch.

With COVID temporarily striking down gyms and fitness studios, Gen Z were even more motivated to stay fit at home than they usually were. Instead of taking up the excuse to binge-watch all of Netflix on the couch in 2020, UNIDAYS discovered that this generation saw a 307% increase in purchasing at-home weight training equipment. Among college students, there was a 70% increase in Average Order Value in the health & fitness category, and 17% more students started purchasing health & fitness products than pre-COVID.

2. Gen Z is more conscious than you think.

Gen Z is the conscious generation: socially, environmentally, spiritually, and even financially. They are the most diverse generation, the most empathetic, and the most brand-aware. While hyper-individualistic, their consciousness transcends to include all peoples — all ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations.

So, what does this all say about Gen Zers as consumers? Gen Z comprises of 40% of all American consumers in 2021. They were predominantly raised during the Great Recession, so despite the stereotypes surrounding “kids these days” sporting pricey Supreme and Vans (more on that later) — they are quite conservative with their finances. So conservative, in fact, that 71% are already saving for the future, with 68% using a monthly budgeting system. 83% of college-aged Gen Zers have plans to buy a home within the next five years as opposed to renting an apartment (that’s a lot more financially prepared than Millennials could say). These young people wield $143 billion in spending power each year, and though they are conscious of their savings, the stereotypes of Gen Z valuing high-end brands and spending a pretty penny for those products are true. This generation is willing to pay more for high quality wellness products and healthy foods than those before them.

The mentality of Gen Zers when shopping is this: with the whole world at their fingertips, they have become the best researchers — by far — than anyone before them. This causes them to be the least trusting generation of brands, and wish to only support the companies they believe in — ones that not only produce the quality they want, but understand their consumers, make them feel valued, and also use their platforms and voices to show they care for the planet and its people. As Emerson Spartz (CEO of Dose) has said, “they have the strongest bullshit filter because they’ve grown up in an era where information was available at all times.” And funny enough, despite being digital natives, 67% prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores.

This is a generation all about the feeling of something. In a climate of individuality and embracing oneself, Gen Z “wellness” has a lot less to do with how others perceive you, and rather how those clothes, that workout, and this food makes you feel about yourself, and making sure those companies and products align with your own values. In tandem, they also happen to be an entire generation of style icons. And yes, it’s almost exclusively fitness brands involved in the fashion trends.

3. Gen Z is more retro than you think.

In a generation where the majority weren’t even born in the 90s, they managed to make a comeback of all things “90s skater fashion”. According to a recent study by CapitalMind, “Skateboarding has become the leader in streetwear designs for Gen Zers, which is impacting sneaker sales: six years ago, basketball sneakers accounted for 13% of US sales; today, they are down to 4%. Skate brands such as Supreme and Vans are capitalizing on this youth athleisure trend.”

“Athleisure wear” is the term brands now use to describe one of Gen Z’s core fashion styles. Essentially, they’ve made it trendy to wear athletic clothes outside of the gym. Brands like Nike, Adidas, Vans, Champion, Jordan and Supreme have all been dubbed as Streetwear amongst Gen Z, even though they had once all began as athletic or skater companies.

The “coolest” athletic brands to wear when working out: Lululemon, Gym Shark, and Under Armour. These three brands do an extraordinary job reaching the younger generation — who considers fitness to not only be healthy, but stylish too. Young people desire authenticity from the brands they support in such a digital world. They highly value experiences and self-expression to be a large part of “wellness”. Their mantra is “you do you”, after all — which carries over into their culture of brand connection, mental health and spirituality.