When Erin Wendte joined Zumiez 18 years ago as human resources director, she figured she’d be focused on policy manuals and hiring systems. What she didn’t anticipate was becoming an expert on youth culture. As chief commercial officer at the action sports and streetwear retailer, which targets 12-to-24-year-olds across more than 700 stores globally, Wendte has prioritized understanding not just who young consumers are today, but who they’re becoming.

“We primarily hire our customers,” Wendte noted during a session at the Women in Retail Pavilion at Shoptalk this spring. “The average age of an employee within our store system is 23. One of the ways we stay relevant is by listening to our store teams.”

The Authenticity Imperative

Zumiez stocks roughly 400 brands at any given time, with roughly 30 percent being its own private labels, none of which carry the Zumiez name. The remaining 70 percent is a constantly rotating roster of third-party brands across footwear, apparel, and hardware. About 100 new brands are introduced each year, with the expectation that many won’t survive.

It’s a model that would make most merchandisers anxious, but Wendte sees it as a competitive advantage. The teenage consumer, she noted, is wired to reject whatever their older sibling thought was cool. This means Zumiez has to be perpetually curious.

“The top brands right now are going to be meaningless to us in five years,” said Wendte.

Trend-spotting, it turns out, is less algorithm and more real-world research. Wendte described a recent store visit where Zumiez store associates were already wearing brands she hadn’t encountered yet, pulling up social profiles and brokering introductions on the spot.

Decoding Gen Z — and What Comes Next

Since 2019, Wendte has worked with a generational think tank to understand the forces shaping both Gen Z and the emerging Gen Alpha demographic. The findings inform everything from brand curation to in-store experience design.

According to Wendte, Gen Z has been forged by financial insecurity, a global pandemic, and the fight to have their voices taken seriously. “They really had to be fierce,” Wendte said.

Gen Alpha — roughly those born from 2010 onward — has inherited much of that cultural groundwork, but their personality is distinctly different. “They don’t want to have to have that mental health fight that they watched Gen Z do,” Wendte noted. Having grown up entirely post-pandemic, Gen Alpha is skeptical of institutional authority, having watched rules change overnight during COVID-19. This is a trait that aligns well with Zumiez’s own founding ethos in skateboarding culture.

“They’re really trying to figure it out themselves and create their own set of rules rather than looking to authority,” Wendte told the audience. “And as a brand founded in anti-authoritarian skateboarding culture, we’re really excited for what Gen Alpha looks like.”

Both generations share a sophisticated radar for brand inauthenticity and the technology to act on it. “They can smell out greenwashing,” cautioned Wendte. “They have technology to help them understand what the truth is, and they’re going to hold brands accountable in even more meaningful ways in the future.”

Why Stores Still Matter

In an era of digital-first retail, Zumiez is still committed to its physical stores. In fact, 90 percent of its sales still happen in physical stores. Wendte attributes this partly to the timeless psychology of younger consumers.

“There are some things that have never changed,” Wendte said. “Every kid wants to have an individual journey where they start to push against their parents and figure out how they’re going to express themselves. You want your mom to come to the mall, but you don’t want your mom to actually pick out your clothes anymore.”

Zumiez’s e-commerce presence is intentionally bifurcated: the app experience is built for the core teen consumer, while the .com experience is designed more for parents and grandparents — “what we lovingly call the wallet,” Wendte quipped.

Building Leaders, Not Just Employees

With 15,000 employees, Zumiez has a built-in leadership pipeline. To tap into that talent, Zumiez has created a six-year internal certification program that brings all store managers together twice a year to train them on leadership fundamentals. Graduates can then teach within the system themselves.

“We don’t teach them how to be a great retailer,” noted Wendte. “We teach them how to be a great leader. I truly love seeing people who have grown with Zumiez go be brilliant other places — police officers, real estate agents, running their own companies — saying, ‘I’m able to do it because of the values I learned at Zumiez.'”

Wendte wrapped up her session by offering advice for brands and retailers trying to connect with Gen Z and Gen Alpha: go where your consumer is, listen without filtering, and never mistake awareness for authenticity.