Across the United States people have been influenced by social media about quarter zip sweaters and a matcha drink from Starbucks. This has led to individuals in schools walking through the hallways wearing quarter zips with a cold Matcha in their hand trying to “Fit in with the trend”. People on TikTok and Instagram show off their new clothing and new Starbucks order, hopping onto the trend. Both high schools and middle schools are experiencing this outbreak daily. This trend started popping up frequently after a TikTok user by the name Jason Gyamfi posted that he will no longer be wearing Nike Tech’s and will be switching to wearing quarter zips and that instead of drinking coffee, he will drink matcha instead.
This TikTok blew up in the beginning of November of this year, with 3.8 million likes and 28.8 million views. The comments consist of people joking about how this is sweeping the nation and how boys are becoming men. This TikTok just shows how much influence one silly video can have on people and how a joke can turn into an everyday occurrence.
After the video exploded online, people immediately went out and started buying quarter zips or borrowing from friends to seem “cool”. Teachers in schools are also aware of this outbreak, and companies are writing articles about how it has affected modern masculinity.
In 2025, it is common for trends like these to grow so fast. Teenagers see a video online and think it’s funny and want to join in on the joke, then they send it to their friends and that’s how it spreads rapidly across the nation.
The joke is that only last year people were obsessing over high-quality Nike jackets and it was a huge trend, now everyone as a society is, “maturing” and becoming a performative male, just to fit in.
This is just one example of one thing people become obsessed with for a few weeks before it fizzles out and a new trend takes its place.
