What's the Big Deal With the Frye Campus Boots?
glamour.com, while others just lust for them in real time. “They are slowly becoming my personality, and I have worn them with every outfit I could,” says one , cradling her boots like a newborn baby. (At $500 a pop, they are, arguably, worthy of the cradle.)I was not ready for the cultish level of obsession over this 50-year-old style from a brand which had, at various points during my three decades on Earth, been heralded as both the epitome of cringe and the zenith of cool.
My 30-something colleagues and I all remember our own Frye-boot eras—the chokehold the had over the girls in my high school was unparalleled—and were bewildered as the 20-something women in our lives spoke of setting restock alerts on their phones and scouring their hometown vintage stores for a stray pair.So, what’s the deal?
What is causing this massive resurgence of the Frye Campus boot?Piera Onorati, senior Vice President of merchandising at Authentic Brands Group, which owns The Frye Company, credits “social media buzz and organic VIP placements" for driving the trend.
Onorati says the brand has seen a 35% increase in sales of the Campus boot in 2024. And it's true, Gen Z icons like Olivia Rodrigo, Addison Rae, and Zendaya have all been photographed in the Frye Campus boot lately.But to me, this trend seems to go beyond idolizing celebrity style.
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