We recently compiled a list of 25 Most Hipster Cities in the US and in this article, we will look at the most hipster city in the US.

An Analysis of the Global Streetwear Market

New fashion trends are one of the key growth contributors to the global apparel industry. According to a report by the Business Research Company, the global apparel market was valued at $656 billion in 2023. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.9% during the forecasted period to reach $919 billion by 2028. In addition, an increase in demand for fashionable apparel products, strong economic growth, an increase in disposable income, and technological advancements in the industry are factors contributing to growth in the market.

The hipster culture is categorized as people who follow the latest fashion trends in clothing and lifestyle. A greater focus of hipster culture is to create new fashion trends outside the mainstream culture. Hipster fashion is closely related to the streetwear industry, a market that came into existence backed by consumer demand for something new and fashionable each day. According to a report by Business Research Insights, the global streetwear market was valued at $188 billion in 2022. The market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.52% to reach $231 billion by 2028. The introduction of genderless clothing, the high adoption of Western culture around the globe, and economic growth in the world are factors contributing to growth in the industry. If you want to read more about clothing brands you can check out the Top 11 Luxury Clothing Stocks to Invest in Now and the 22 Largest Clothing Companies by Market Cap in the World.

Sustainable Style: Fashion Trends for 2024

The fashion industry has shown resilience during the past few years. According to the State of Fashion Report 2024 published by McKinsey & Company the fashion industry made a strong economic recovery in 2021 experiencing an increase of 371% in year-on-year profit change. The economic performance was maintained in 2022 as well and the profits only dropped slightly by 6% during the year.

Within the fashion industry, the luxury segment outperformed and posted a 36% rise in profits in 2022. The market faced a series of challenges in 2023, including weaker demand, slow growth in the United States and Europe, and China’s strong performance fading away as compared to the past years. Moving forward to 2024, the global fashion industry is forecasted to grow between 2% to 4%, with variants in regional growth rates. The luxury segment of the market is again expected to take the largest share and is forecasted to grow between 3% to 5% during the year.

Looking ahead to 2024, the market trends are changing. Climate resilience is one of the key fashion trends for the year. The fashion industry is responsible for approximately 3% to 8% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the world. Moreover, due to the extreme weather conditions fashion exports worth $65 billion are at risk of jeopardy by 2030 and could potentially lead to the loss of nearly one million jobs around the globe. Industry-wide initiatives are crucial to build sustainable supply chains. According to McKinsey & Company, 12% of the companies in the fashion industry state sustainability as one of the principal opportunities for 2024. To read more about the fashion industry you can look at the 25 Richest Billionaires in Fashion and Retail Industry and 12 Countries That Produce the Best Fashion Designers in the World.

Major Thrift Store Companies

Thrift stores are one of the go-to places for hipsters as these places allow hipsters to find vintage clothing, furniture, and other unconventional fashion items. Some of the leading thrift stores include Savers Value Village, Inc. (NYSE:SVV) and The RealReal, Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL).

Savers Value Village, Inc. (NYSE:SVV) is a renowned thrift store company based in Washington. The company operates through its retail stores across the US, Canada, and Australia. On May 6, Savers Value Village, Inc. (NYSE:SVV) announced the acquisition of 2 Peaches Group, LLC. 2 Peaches Group, LLC is a thrift store chain that operates in seven key locations including Atlanta, and Georgia. The acquisition will allow Savers Value Village, Inc. (NYSE:SVV) to strategically enter the southeast region of the US. Here are some comments from Savers Value Village, Inc’s. (NYSE:SVV) Q1 2024 earnings call:

“Giving our existing established presence in Canada, where we already are considerably more penetrated and where thrift is already more widely adopted, the macro pressures it tended to be more impactful to our results. In the US, consumers also remain cautious with their discretionary dollars, but thrift exploration and acceptance continues to grow. As we have referenced, 85% of consumers have interacted with breadth as a shopper or donor and one and five indicate they will increase their spend over the coming years. While we are facing some macro headwinds in Canada, we continue to invest to drive accelerated unit growth and sales. As you will recall, we opened 12 stores in 2023 and are pleased to report that we are on track to reach our 22 store opening target this year in 2024 with 21 leases already signed.”

RealReal, Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL) is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces for resale and purchase of luxury goods including fashion products for men and women, jewelry, and watches. The RealReal, Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL) is based in California and operates mainly through its online marketplace and retail stores. On April 22, The RealReal, Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL) announced its in-store drive to support the Conservation International. Conservation International is a non-profit partner of The RealReal, Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL) which is dedicated to the cause of promoting sustainability and conserving nature. Under this initiative, customers would be able to donate their commission to benefit Conversation International. Here are some comments from RealReal, Inc’s. (NASDAQ:REAL) Q1 2024 earnings call:

“We see opportunities to invest in automation and AI, as we leverage our data to improve client experience and to work profitably – and to profitably scale the business. We project that we are on track to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA, for the full year 2024. Today, we provided Q2, 2024, guidance and updated our full year guidance, with an increase in the midpoint of our full year adjusted EBITDA range. We believe our continued focus on the core consignment business is working. We are growing our consignment revenue, expanding margins delivering exceptional experiences to our consignors, and providing outstanding luxury goods to our buyers. I am very excited about the momentum in our business and believe we will continue to capitalize on our position as a leader in luxury presale.”

Our Methodology

To curate the list of the 25 most hipster cities in the US, we conducted a sentiment analysis on Reddit. First, we aggregated the list of 40 most hipster cities in the US by sifting through 5 online rankings. After that, we turned to Reddit to find 5 high-engagement threads that asked people about the most hipster cities in the US. We selected threads that had at least 100 comments. We analyzed and read all the comments and summed the upvotes for each hipster city on our list. In the end, we shortlisted the cities that had at least 150 upvotes. The list is ranked in ascending order of the total upvotes on Reddit.

Note: This list is not exhaustive and does not reflect our opinion. The ranking is solely based on the opinions of Reddit users. Moreover, we have also cited population figures for each city sourced from the United States Census Bureau.

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The Most Hipster City in the US

1. Portland, Oregon 

Upvotes: 1889

Portland is one of the largest cities in Oregon. It ranks as the most hipster city in the US with 1889 upvotes on Reddit. The city has attracted hipsters from around the country for a long time. It is renowned for its vegan restaurants, environment-friendly vibe, tattoo parlors, and food. The city had a population of 630,498 as of 2023. In addition, the city is also known for its liberal society and bike-riding culture and holds one of the world’s largest bike ride festivals annually. Portland has many vintage boutique stores, thrift stores, and shopping centers that attract hipsters from around the globe.

To learn more about other hipster cities in the US, you can check out our report on the 25 Most Hipster Cities in the US.

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