To Gen Z, food is the new luxury. What does that mean for fashion? 

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.

Online, food is in fashion. Known for romanticising everyday life, Gen Z creators on social media are swapping the luxury bags and Zara separates in their hauls and unboxing videos, for smoothies and sandwiches — and audiences are eating it up. 

“I’m gonna do an Erewhon haul,” says TikTok influencer Alix Earle in a video posted in January before taste-testing Erewhon’s pink smoothie created in collaboration with Hailey Bieber, buffalo cauliflower, a chicken pesto sandwich and chicken noodle soup. She spent $95. Earle’s video has 6 million views and over 600,000 likes, and it sparked a wave of Erewhon haul videos on TikTok: to date, the hashtag #Erewhonhaul has 54.9 million views.

At $25 a smoothie, the monthly cost of a daily Erewhon could buy a Prada crossbody bag. But for some young consumers, this daily luxury is more important. In April, New York Magazine’s The Cut reported on Gen Zs taking on second jobs to afford daily Erewhon, spending $50-$200 a week. And it’s not just in LA. Global cafe chain Joe & the Juice also went viral on TikTok in the last year after users started posting about its  ‘Tunacado’ sandwich. The posts on Joe & the Juice’s account have over 10 million likes, and the hashtag #joeandthejuice has 194.4 million views. 

During the pandemic, Gen Zs began romanticising their daily lives, placing added value on simple pleasures like going for a walk, making a meal or grabbing a takeaway coffee and turning it into content. And food trends entered the mainstream, from dalgona coffee to banana bread. Coming out of the pandemic and into a recession, food has remained a status symbol for some price-sensitive Gen Zs, much like a luxury item or piece of music merch, experts agree. Out of 166 16 to 24-year-old Teen Vogue, Glamour and Allure readers in the US, more than half have bought what they consider to be luxury food or drink in the last year, according to a survey conducted by Vogue Business. And where luxury food shopping might have been associated with food halls in Harrods or La Samaritaine, it’s now become more approachable for Gen Zs, as celebrities and influencers promote Erewhon smoothies or the Tunacado. 

In response, fashion and beauty brands are seeing the value in aligning with food institutions or using popular foods at events or in campaigns to build brand equity online. 

Fashion resale marketplace Depop founder Simon Beckerman identified similarities with how young audiences consume food and fashion today. In response, after Depop sold to Etsy in 2021, he launched new venture Delli last year: a food marketplace where independent food producers can sell their items, from small-batch UNTO olive oil from Tuscany (£11), to a litre of coconut kefir from Kefir Magic (£15) or smoked honey from Dr Sting (£16.99). The exclusivity associated with artisan food also contributes to its appeal as a luxury. Limited production runs, seasonal offerings and collaborations create a sense of exclusivity and desirability among young consumers. Delli embraces the ‘drop’ mechanic that’s popular in streetwear and luxury fashion houses, which has helped drive hype for the brands on the app, he adds.  

Food as a status symbol 

Many of Delli’s sellers previously worked in fashion, and fashion brands are aligning with Delli to cash in on the cultural appeal of its sellers and this new wave of food as luxury. Ganni collaborated with seller Momo Kombucha earlier this month, and fashion photographers Anton Gottlob and Alessandro Tranchini released a cookbook on the platform. Unlike typical supermarket products, most products on Delli have thoughtfully designed packaging with colourful, eye-catching and modern labels that young consumers are proud to display in their kitchens or on their tablescapes. 

The “status birthday cake” is a food trend Delli is seeing in the market, with young people posting their colourful cakes from bakeries like Violet Bakery, the bakery that made Harry and Meghan’s wedding cake and caters for a plethora of fashion events. Violet Bakery’s Claire Ptak has previously collaborated with Christopher Kane on a pink “More Cake” version of its “More Joy” tote bag, sold on her website to celebrate the release of her new cookbook. In tandem, she just announced a drop of pink cakes in a bundle with her cookbook on Delli to tap into its audience and drum up hype.  

Fashion brands have seen the influence of Erewhon, too, after influencers like Hailey Bieber collaborated on the brand’s viral smoothie, a growing number of premium and luxury labels have collaborated with the store. Sky High Farm Workwear, the fashion brand that funnels profits into a non-profit farm, growing produce for New York families, recently collaborated with Erewhon to launch its Honey Pop sparkling water drink in-store and online. 

Skincare label Agent Nateur, which is carried by the retailer, also collaborated with Erewhon on a smoothie featuring its Holi (Mane) hair supplement. In addition to its cultural cachet, founder Jena Covello says Erewhon’s appeal is the frequency of visits — people may shop Erewhon multiple times a week.

Erewhon sold over 16,000 Agent Nateur smoothies during their partnership in September, which was promoted by influencers hired by Agent Nateur to shop the smoothie and supplement from Erewhon. The success prompted Covello to secure a second collaboration: Agent Nateur will be debuting a bottled version at Erewhon locations next month.

From online to in-person events

Jewellery brand Mejuri’s recent TikTok campaign leaned into the “food as a luxury” trend after the brand noticed a surge in food-focused lifestyle content. “Want a treat?” the ad reads before showing pictures of picture-perfect ice creams and slices of cake. The hands holding the food are, naturally, covered in Mejuri rings, but the alignment with food felt right for the TikTok audience, says chief creative officer Justine Lançon. Off the back of the campaign, Mejuri will host a gelato pop-up at Chin Chin in London’s Soho in June, where guests can eat gelato and browse the pieces from the collection. 

Delli is also seeing an appetite for IRL food events from its young customers, which could be another touchpoint for fashion collaborators. The marketplace held a supper club series in London, open to Delli customers, with its sellers hosting takeovers in a temporary space and cooking full meals based on their products, including a Lamiri Harissa supper club in Brixton and a porchetta supper club from butcher Madame Pigg’s Adam Hardiman. 

“The supper clubs take the connection between buyer and seller to the next level,” Beckerman says, “we’re now looking to perhaps find a permanent space because they’ve been so successful.” 

Ultimately, the goal is to create with Delli what he did with Depop, with the same ethos from fashion to food. “Thanks to Depop or thanks to Deli in this case, we can amplify independent sellers, make this community wider and wider and allow as many people as possible all across the world to be able to access these products and have fun eating them, have fun buying them, have fun in learning the stories behind them.”

Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

More from this author:

The Vogue Business TikTok Trend Tracker

Inside the men’s luxury bag boom 

Unlocking Gen Z’s luxury spending power in 2023