For the last five years, baggy and straight-leg jeans have dominated both the men’s and women’s market, but their popularity may be fading. Earlier this week, Levi’s CEO Michelle Gass reported a decline in US sales that led to a 5 percent drop in stock, which Gass attributed to misreading the market. Their fall back-to-school campaign featured mostly baggy and straight-leg styles, while consumers are searching for low-rise and skinnier fits.
Indeed, skinnier silhouettes are making a resurgence: Vogue, Who What Wear, and W Magazine have all recently reported on the trend’s return, which was seen consistently on the runway earlier this year at Gucci, 7 for All Mankind, Celine and Valentino. And as the famous Devil Wears Prada quote goes, these runway patterns are often signals that the trend will trickle down to mass market apparel in a few months. But while trend cycles are by nature cyclical, the resurgence of 2000s-era skinny and low-rise jeans is due to another modern cultural phenomenon: the widespread use of GLP-1s.
One year ago, Impact Analytics CEO Prashant Agrawal predicted this shift: “Ozempic is upending America’s size curve in retail time – and traditional retail industry planning processes are not ready. Our data shows billions of dollars in retail margins for inventory are at risk unless brands start planning for the shopper of 2027, instead of the shopper of 2022.” As of October 2026, 15% of Americans report having used a GLP-1 in their lifetime, and 11% reported taking one currently. But irrespective of whether an individual is on a GLP-1, it’s impossible to ignore that the American silhouette is shrinking, inciting feelings of self-comparison, and thus gradually compressing our notion of what it means to be healthily skinny.
This phenomenon has been especially prominent amongst college-aged girls: a recent feature in The Cut reported on how GLP-1 use has become increasingly common in sorority culture. Thus, it’s no surprise that skinny and low-rise jeans — which are designed to make skinny legs and small waists visible — are back in fashion, as people seek to display their shape in the never-ending race towards thinness.
As GLP-1-mediated weight loss becomes more accessible through oral pills, direct-to-consumer vendors, and even stronger medications, the American silhouette will continue to shrink. Fashion brands must adapt accordingly, or risk potential losses as consumer demands change rapidly.
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