Fashion is already thinking about Gen Beta But will Gen Beta care about fashion?

It is known that in fashion the best consumer is always the next one. And that is why the best minds in the industry (as well as those of the World Economic Forum) are already thinking about consumers who have not even been born yet. These consumers have been defined as Gen Beta. Although its members are still newborns or in the womb (they are those born from 2025 onwards), the interest in this generation is not as absurd as it sounds, but represents a pragmatic response to lessons learned from previous generations. Between Gen Z and Gen Alpha, in fact, brands have discovered that they can access a large pool of very young consumers who, however, are not reachable through traditional channels. And if Roblox, Fortnite, and TikTok have managed to bring hordes of pre-adolescents to Sephora or to the new European high-street stores, what will be able to conquer Gen Beta is still a mystery.

The precocity with which young people spend derives from a digital ecosystem that democratizes access to culture: today's and tomorrow's kids navigate TikTok and Instagram with an instantaneous awareness of fashion history, they have been shaped by the algorithm from the cradle. For fashion, ignoring such influence would mean ceding market share to more agile competitors. Moreover, the global context marked by the ubiquitous rise of artificial intelligence, the climate crisis, and geopolitical instabilities imposes forward-looking planning: Gen Beta will grow up in an AI-native world, will grow up in the midst of the values of Millennials and Gen Z, and by 2035 will represent 16% of the global population. But first, let's try to understand who Gen Beta is?

Defining Gen Beta

The demographic group following Gen Alpha has been provisionally designated as Generation Beta, by Mark McCrindle, a prominent Australian futurist and demographer who had previously anticipated the definition of Generation Alpha. According to McCrindle, this generation includes all individuals born from 2025 to 2039, although at the moment the precise temporal parameters remain fluid because it is not known which historical event will end up marking the outer boundaries of this generation's era. Demographically, this group will include the children of the late Millennial generation and the entire Gen Z, and thus will carry with it the reflection of all the shifts in family formation patterns amid the economic and social pressures we are experiencing today.

The academic contention today concerns the terminal boundary of Gen Alpha, which directly impacts the start of Generation Beta. For McCrindle, the last segment of Alpha was born in 2024, and Beta is spoken of from 2025 onwards. For others, Gen Alpha "ended" in 2021, and thus Beta was born starting from 2022. Further divergences derive from different conclusions for the endpoint of Generation Z, which some place in 2012, others in 2013. For example, psychologist Jean Twenge argues that Gen Alpha should include those born from 2013 to 2029, and thus Beta will only start in 2030.

What nationality will Gen Beta be?

Generation Beta emerges in an important context: the deceleration of global fertility rates, which will limit its absolute size compared to previous generations. McCrindle predicts a total of 2.1 billion individuals, a slight increase compared to the 2 billion of Generation Alpha even if not able to reverse the broader trends toward depopulation. A distinctive hallmark of this generation will be multiculturalism, in which they will find themselves immersed, unable to even remember a world of defined ethnic majorities.

Geographically, Gen Beta will represent a turning point in global demography. According to the projections of World Economic Forum, in fact, the new generation will see a strong reduction in the Asian component, the most marked in modern history, with only about 46% of it originating from the Asia-Pacific region, a marked decline from the 61% dominance of Generation X in that area. The protagonist could instead be the generation born in the Sub-Saharan Africa area, which should represent a third of all births. North America and Europe, on the other hand, will host only 8% of the entire Gen Beta, a tiny minority. Here, however, a new problem emerges: economic disparity.

The few who spend a lot

Here begins the complicated part. Paradoxically, if the Asian Gen Beta will be among the smallest, its fiscal footprint will be enormous. Still according to the World Economic Forum, about 40% of the aggregate consumption of Gen Beta should materialize in Asia, the historically highest proportion, driven by very high incomes. Two-thirds of Generation Beta consumers who will reach a daily spending threshold above 12 dollars (adjusted to 2017 purchasing power parity) will reside in India and China. This affluence will make the Asia-Pacific market for this group equivalent in scale to the combined markets of Europe and the United States.

In contrast, North America and Europe, despite hosting only 8% of the new generation, will represent 41% of total spending. For a historical comparison: in 2000, high-income countries like the United States, Japan, Australia, and European countries absorbed 85% of Baby Boomers' consumer spending, thus dominating global markets. This percentage has progressively decreased in subsequent years, thanks to the growth of other economies. In the case of Generation Beta, projections indicate that only 48% of their spending will occur in these countries, confirming an inevitable rebalancing toward emerging economies, where wealth is shifting in an increasingly marked way. Finally, by 2040, 58% of the new generation will reside in metropolitan areas. This exceeds the 53% of Generation Alpha and the 45% of Generation Z at analogous life stages, positioning Beta as the most "urban" generation ever.

The role of technology

Generation Beta will be born within technological ecosystems, more than any other generation. Specifically, AI will be present at all levels of its existence. For McCrindle, for example, the concept of balanced digital literacy will become central in future cultural discussions. Symbiosis with AI will not be limited to practical and functional uses, but will extend to more complex and intimate spheres, such as psychological and social ones, influencing emotions, relationships, and self-perceptions. Scholars and future theorists propose the concept of "fluid identity boundaries": an idea that describes how people of this generation will be able to develop intense emotional and intellectual bonds with AI entities, similar to those created with human friends or family, making the boundaries between "I" and "machine" less rigid and more permeable.

Obviously, the potential downsides are many. The growing political division with its "ideological bubbles" will combine with the increasing difficulty of distinguishing real content from that generated by AI, fueling an explosive spread of fake news and manipulations. Parallelly, experts predict that human attention will continue to decrease, making it harder to maintain prolonged focus on non-digital activities, such as reading a book or face-to-face conversation. Being the first human group completely immersed and "endemic" to AI from birth, Gen Beta will naturally assimilate technologies like large language models and immersive virtual realities. Educational systems could transform radically, shifting from standard and mechanical lessons to AI-personalized programs that adapt content to individual needs and foster global collaborations in virtual spaces, with classmates from around the world.

Even socialization on a daily basis will become hybrid: interactions between humans and AI will blur traditional relationship rules, influencing how people communicate, their mental and social well-being, and even how they form their own identity. On the other hand, Gen Beta's parents, especially if Gen Z, might balance this hyperconnectivity with more tangible influences: their preference for the return to analog experiences (like vinyls or paper books) and their distrust of social media could encourage a cultural movement of disconnection. Moreover, attention to personal well-being powered by devices that monitor biometric data in real time, such as smartwatches that track heart rate or sleep, will create a mindset very oriented toward health and fitness.

Social and environmental imperatives

The worldview of Gen Beta will be greatly influenced by the greater attention of their Millennials and Gen Z toward global problems that transcend national borders, particularly climate change. This will lead the new generation to pay attention to the environment not out of political inclination but for practical survival and cultural imperative. Their world might not be a paradise, amid growing instability, increasingly unpredictable ecological changes, increasingly scarce natural resources, and multiplying geopolitical tensions.

Factors such as the countries where they are born and live, birth and aging rates, rising incomes, and the widespread diffusion of digital will shape their lives: from the ways they move, to spending habits, to their role in the global economy. In this sense, Gen Beta can be seen as a "bridge generation", according to WEF, that is, a transitional group that will have to manage the legacy of Millennials and Gen Z, new demographic flows influenced by unbalanced birth rates and climatic conditions. According to many, their approach to sustainability will be much more fanatical than previous generations. Growing up on a overheated and increasingly urbanized planet, this generation will make regenerative and circular practices a true philosophy of life.

According to BoF, by 2035, Generation Beta will spend 113 billion dollars on consumer electronics, a figure 2.4 times higher than projected for Generation X in the next ten years. This indicates a future of "tech wardrobes" with technology-integrated closets and smart clothes with sensors. However, we will have to wait because, in the meantime, Gen X will maintain a temporary dominance on spending until at least 2033. For the fashion industry, the imperative is clear: the explosive mix of integration with AI, ethical commitment to the environment, and identity elasticity has the potential to redefine the ways in which clothing is conceived, consumed, and promoted.