Fashion
From Wet Seal to dELiA*s, 10 Totally ’90s Fashion and Accessory Brands You May Have Forgotten About
If you’re a millennial, you likely vividly recall what it felt like to spend a Saturday at the mall: the smell of food court pizza, the fun of rifling through CDs and the rush of anticipation before setting foot inside your favorite store.
Malls have changed dramatically in recent years and, with their evolution, many of the brands shoppers once knew and loved have gone by the wayside.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of the clothing and accessories labels you likely remember from your mall days (or, as is the case with some of these brands, from the catalogs you once received at home).
Claire’s Accessories
This tween- and teen-focused jewelry brand has reinvented itself in recent years, following a 2018 bankruptcy filing. In the 1990s, the brand’s namesake stores were the place to go to get ear piercings or colorful jewelry — think mood rings, sunflower charms and slap bracelets.
Claire’s was also known for its hair accessories, like scrunchies and headbands, and its highly popular five-for-$10 sales.
Limited Too
A teen-focused offshoot of the more adult brand, The Limited, Limited Too launched in the late 1980s, but reached its peak in the mid-90s. The store was geared toward preteen girls, with an aesthetic hallmarked by rhinestones, neon colors and cartoon flower illustrations.
In 2008, the brand name was briefly discontinued (though later revived, with the trademarks sold and new collections launching online) and the bulk of Limited Too stores were converted to locations for the lower-priced Justice brand of clothing.
Caché
This clothing label launched in the 1970s and, by the 1990s, became almost synonymous with American malls, where it had more than 200 locations at its height. Caché was most known for its gowns and dresses, which were geared toward adult women with a passion for satin, sequins and the like.
In 2015, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and announced it would be liquidating all of its stores.
Hot Topic
A more alternative brand, Hot Topic was best known for its licensed band T-shirts (along with other music-related items, like posters). Throughout its evolution, the store has marketed to a number of subcultures, from emo and goth to manga and anime. The company went public in 1996 and, in 2013, sold to a private equity firm.
Wet Seal
A fast-fashion retailer with locations primarily based in malls, Wet Seal was geared toward trendy teen girls with a passion for fashion. The brand was known for a fun atmosphere in its stores, which played loud music and often hosted concert ticket giveaways for groups like No Doubt.
In its later years, the company struggled to compete alongside fast-fashion behemoths like H&M and Forever 21. It ultimately shuttered 60 percent of its stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2015 and closing all locations.
Bongo
While Bongo the brand still exists, and has grown into categories including footwear, the company’s jeans were the draw in the ’90s — when low- and mid-rise denim reigned supreme. Bongo’s founders, Gene Montesano and Barry Perlman, are iconic in the world of denim, having also created Lucky Brand Jeans. In 1998, they sold Bongo to the another millennial-loved label, Candie’s.
No Fear
Founded in 1989, No Fear popularized a line of T-shirts featuring quotes and slogans about team sports, but with a bit of an existential edge (think, “If it were jus about attitude, everyone would have it”). The company also branched into motocross gear and energy drinks before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011.
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Espirit
Created in the late 1960s, Espirit experienced its most dramatic growth in the 1990s, when it became synonymous with funky, colorful, patterned clothing. While Espirit still exists, it experienced a lot of company shake-ups in the 2000s and closed several outlets in international markets. It’s made a bit of a reemergence more recently, having focused on casual sportswear and capsule collections of clothing for both men and women.
Roxy
This fashion brand was an offshoot of the menswear surf brand Quicksilver (its logo was actually just two Quicksilver logos placed together to resemble a heart), geared toward women who surfed — or just wanted to look like it.
Today, Roxy exists, though the brand offers general athleisure collections rather than strictly surf-focused clothing and accessories.
dELiA*s
dELiA*s carved out a niche for its teen- and college-aged girls’ apparel with catalogs. The direct-to-consumer catalog was almost a precursor to influencer culture, featuring models that shoppers came to recognize in each issue, and photos that looked more lifestyle magazine than mail-order catalog. The trendy typeface, fun clothing descriptions and giveaways that often accompanied the catalogs added to the fun.
The company was acquired by Alloy Inc. in 2003 for $50 million, per Fast Company.