Who knows how and why things become trendy again, but certain brands seem to last forever. Sometimes those brands take a journey nobody saw coming, and wind up far trendier than they, or anyone else, ever expected them to be.
From Marvel to New Balance, take a look at these six old-school companies that have suddenly become cool again.
1. Polaroid
Founded: 1937
Poloroid’s gone through some ups and downs, with tech that was once incredible, and then obsolete. Today, people appreciate it for what it is: a really fun novelty. Boasting the same, sepia-washed, 70s aesthetic that we love at the same time as a USB-C slot, Polaroid has kept itself alive in a way most disposable cameras haven’t.
2. New Balance
Founded: 1906
Not only were New Balance sneakers not trendy when I was growing up, they were legitimately embarrassing. These days? Everybody and their mom has a New Balance collab.
Related: 21 Things You Didn’t Know About New Balance
3. Carhartt
Founded: 1889
Once a symbol of the working man, Carhartt has since turned into something else; that logo has almost become a Swoosh for the outdoors. You won’t see many influencers posting hiking photos without a Carhartt beanie these days.
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4. Champion
Founded: 1919
I was wearing Champion in elementary school. Not because it was cool, but because you could fish a bunch of sweatshirts off of the big, flat Costco table for an incredibly cheap price. To see what Champion has become today, a brand at the center of all hypebeast-esque trendiness, is wild.
Related: 9 Clothing Brands That Are Guaranteed to Last, According to Redditors
5. Abercrombie & Fitch
Founded: 1892
The first time I ever walked into an Abercrombie & Fitch, I knew I didn’t want to buy anything. But that’s what all the cool kids in middle and high school were wearing, so I forced myself to buy some uncomfortable jeans. Its appeal died amongst my generation shortly thereafter.
After a long time of being associated with the early 2000s, Abercrombie is back in full force, with search growing and growing over the years. Millennials have reclaimed their first love.
Related: 13 Dead Fashion Brands We Miss
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6. Marvel Comics
Founded: 1939
This is perhaps the ultimate case of something you’d have gotten teased for liking as a kid becoming trendy. Marvel has done something unprecedented with its shared, canonical universe, and now everybody wants a piece of it.
22 years ago, I was pretending I hadn’t seen “Spider-Man” yet when I had actually seen it twice. I was very cool. Today, there’s nary a soul alive who won’t flock to the theater to catch the newest Spidey joint. Most people see these movies. Times change.
