Retail Specialty Apparel & Accessories Analyzing Back to School Brand Heat Through AI Search

Equity Research 7 September 2026 | 6:20PM EDT

Retail: Specialty Apparel & Accessories: Analyzing Back-to-School Brand Heat Through AI Search

Jon Keypour | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Brooke Roach, CFA | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC In partnership with GS Data Works, we use our proprietary AI brand heat/product Kareem Elbadrawi visibility tracker (link) to analyze brand heat and product discovery opportunity | ahead of Back-to-School/Back-to-Campus season. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Dan Duggan, Ph.D. ANF, AEO, GRGD, URBN, and VSXY fare well: Across both Back-to-School (ages 14 | and 16) and Back-to-Campus (ages 18 and 20), Hollister (ANF), Urban Outfitters Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (URBN), and PINK (VSXY) fare particularly well, suggesting stronger brand relevance and consumer mindshare heading into the season. Recommendations for Aerie (AEO), Garage (GRGD) and NKE outperformed among Back-to-School shoppers, while recommendations for GAP outperformed primarily among the older Back-to-Campus cohort. Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) both fare well across age groups but lean younger and older, respectively, highlighting continuity between brands as customers age. American Eagle (AEO), Old Navy (GAP), and ATZ, recommendations were generally weaker across all ages.

Industry Back-to-School/Campus Commentary: While still early in the Back-to-School season and consumer earnings, readthroughs thus far point to a healthy shopping environment. In Specialty and Apparel Retail (Keypour), ANF management continues to see Back-to-School momentum build with growth accelerating from 2Q into August. In Softlines (Roach), URBN management’s limited commentary on Back-to-School spoke favorably of more full-price selling into August for Anthropologie. Other companies such as TJX and GAP indicated a stronger August period vs. July.

Steeper competition: Across each of our four prompts, the AI model recommended 30-40+ unique brands, significantly more variety than our prior jeans/workwear brand heat study driven by more recommendations for smaller, private brands (i.e., White Fox, Edikted, Princess Polly, Parke, and Pink Palm Puff). This dispersion resulted in stiffer competition for Rank 1 recommendations that could translate to more competition for wallet in-store. We note that only seven out of the 12 brands recommended within our coverage universe ranked first in at least one of our four prompts.

Goldman Sachs does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision. For Reg AC certification and other important disclosures, see the Disclosure Appendix, or go to Analysts employed by non-US affiliates are not registered/qualified as research analysts with FINRA in the U.S.

Goldman Sachs Retail: Specialty Apparel & Accessories

We generate 4 distinct prompts based on age/occasion (14 y/o heading into high school, 16 y/o heading back to high school, 18 y/o heading to college, and 20 y/o heading back to college), as summarized below:

Exhibit 1: This analysis considers four specific ages capturing a range of potential high school and college students across the same use case and price range Summary of AI query parameters and methodology Methodology N 20 Model Gemini 3.1 Pro (i) 14 y/o heading to high school; (ii) 16 y/o Age/Occasion heading back to high school; (iii) 18 y/o heading to college; and (iv) 20 y/o heading back to college Gender Female Price Point $25 up to $75 #of Recommendations 10 Recency Window Feb 2026 - July 2026 Test Date 7-Aug-26 Information Sources for the AI TikTok, Instagram, Reddit (r/fashion) As of July 2026, recommend your top 10 clothing brands to wear for [OCCASION]. For each brand, explain in 1-2 sentences (in first person) why you Prompt like it right now and when you would wear it. Reference any specific recent drops, collaborations, or moments that put this brand on your radar recently

Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

We collate how the AI recommends brands across the 4…