'Sardine girl summer': Here’s why Gen Z is romanticizing tinned fish

Photo via @alyssadean_

Photo via u/No_Personalilty_9108

There are numerous theories: One fashion psychologist, Jennifer Heinen, believes that food-themed clothes and accessories have a lot to do with the emotions that lay behind the food itself. She notes that foods like “sardines, or tomatoes, or lemons” represent memories for many people, and they’re “foods that ground us in heritage, identity, and repetition.” Maybe people are snatching up tomato-print outfits because it reminds them of the pasta sauce they made with family growing up, or they’re rocking a sardine romper because they recall eating tinned fish with crackers as an afterschool snack. Unlike the claustrophobic idea of being “crammed together like sardines,” this fashion psychologist posits that the fishes’ popularity comes from a desire to find community. 
 

Sardine-themed storefront photos via anthropologie

Etsy trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson thinks the trend stems from the imperfect and tangible nature of the fish: A direct rebuke of glossy Instagram posts and perfectly curated online experiences. These aren’t outfits that are celebrating the perfect brunch with 20 impeccably-dressed influencers, they’re just simple illustrations of a food that isn’t especially photogenic in the first place (depending on who you ask, of course). 
 

Photo via @thatshopcouple  

There are some brands who have spent the last few years trying to make sardines trendy, though. The brand Fishwife has been pushing aesthetically pleasing tinned fish options since 2020, and they’ve been on the rise since a SharkTank appearance in 2023. Other brands, like Lata or Fishnook, have also created aesthetic, Pinterest-board-ready tins, as well as subscription options aiming to make consumers feel like they’re in an elite club. 

Of course, you can just get regular sardines at the grocery store, too. And some people worry about what will happen when the cheap grocery staple attracts the attention of the wealthy. For example, lobster used to be plentiful back in the 1700s. They would pile up on the shorelines in two-foot-high piles, leading poor folks to eat them and farmers to use them as fertilizer. However, in the 1880s, lobster caught the eyes of wealthy diners. In big cities, lobster became a delicacy. To this day, lobster harvesting is a lucrative business that brings in millions of dollars. Of course, this change happened over a few centuries, and there were numerous factors at play. But there’s no reason such a change couldn’t happen with sardines, or other cheap foods (i.e. Spam, Scrapple, Cup Noodles), if their popularity and perception begin to change in the public eye. 
 

Food-themed 2025 clothing photos via Local Color boutique

There’s also an argument to be made that “sardine girl summer” is just a microtrend that’ll come and go as fast as a wave washing over the sand. Remember the mustache trend of the 2010s? Brands often try to push their own versions of trends, but trendsetting is hard to do. You can’t just tell people that it’s sardine girl summer. You have to see if all of the trendy influencers are on board with it. The trend has to be enduring enough to end up in designer stores, boutiques, and mass merchandise stores. When back-to-school shopping starts up, will these oily little fish still be gracing rompers, or will there be a new fashion cycle set in place? 

Microtrends are made popular on TikTok all of the time. Take, for example, the “office siren” aesthetic, the coquette outfits with bows on them, or even the cowboy-core trend. For a lot of these micro trends, making a fashion statement is as easy as picking a noun and adding “-core” to the end. Not all of them catch on, and they’re a way for TikTok shop owners to make a quick buck on an outfit that’ll be off-trend by the time it arrives in the mail.
 

Gen Z are very inspired by social media marketing and it can be all but impossible to tell the difference between a genuine post and an advertisement. 74% of Zoomers shop on their phones, with many of them making up to four purchases per week, It’s no wonder that #tiktokmademebuyit is a TikTok hashtag with 6.7 billion views. So if the sardine-lovers leave this trend in the summer of 2025, at least we’ll all be scooping up cheap thriftstore sealife duds by summer 2026.