The Gen-Z TikTokker Building a Hub for Y2K Vintage

NEW YORK, NY — It may have been less than two weeks before Christmas, with freezing temperatures and warnings of impending snowfall — New York’s first of the season — but Emma Rogue could still draw a crowd.

A group of Gen Zers 200 deep, snaked down Houston Street in hopes of shopping at a pop-up for Rogue, a Y2K-focused vintage retailer operated by the TikTok star. Inside, they browsed racks of vintage picks and vinyl records, but it was the charismatic, acid-green-haired Rogue, who was arguably the biggest draw. She posed for selfies with fans, as she does at all her stores, which are styled like deliberately dishevelled millennial bedrooms, complete with early-2000s ephemera like Britney Spears posters.

“Influencers like Emma [Rogue] are our modern celebrities,” said Deangelo Landetta, 23, a long-time Rogue customer.

But more than just shopping, Rogue also hosted a meet-and-greet with Julia Wolf, a rising alt-pop singer currently opening for Machine Gun Kelly. Racks featured vintage finds hand-selected by Wolf as well as a Rogue-branded collaboration T-shirt (which quickly sold out).

Rogue began in 2017 as a single $45 Skechers listing on Depop, but has since grown into a thriving e-commerce business and a three-store network across downtown Manhattan, the latest opening on Dec. 19 near New York University. While Rogue is still small, the self-funded business is profitable and has a staff of 15. In 2025, it generated “low seven-figure” annual sales, according to the company.

It’s Rogue’s own marketing prowess that has helped drive much of the growth. She produces short-form video content inside her stores, a strategy that makes the spaces visible on social platforms and positions her as both aspirational and relatable, helping sustain foot traffic even as the broader fashion market softens. According to a 2025 Boston Consulting Group study, Gen Z and Gen Alpha shoppers increasingly follow social, platform-driven paths from discovery to purchase.

“I’m a believer that creators are the new storefront,” said John Aghayan, founder of social-commerce platform Emcee Studios. “People like Emma Rogue — who understand today’s changing landscape and can create real pull around commerce — are the future. These are the new retailers.”

Product Fit, Retail As Media

Rogue grew up in New Jersey, where she went on routine thrifting trips with her Argentine-born mother. It was as a college student at NYU, however, where friends introduced her to downtown New York’s streetwear, music and art scenes.

After graduating in 2017, she worked as a concert photographer during the SoundCloud rap era, shooting rappers such as Smokepurpp and 6ix9ine. Around that time, she noticed the word “Depop” printed on a friend’s bag, downloaded the app and listed a pair of Skechers she had thrifted for $4. They sold for $45 almost immediately.

“I’d never felt what it was like to sell something before,” she recalled. “It was a rush.”

She soon began selling vintage full-time, and over the next three years, built enough of a reputation in resale that Depop hired her to run its Soho store and create social media content. During the pandemic, a TikTok video explaining how to pack vintage items went viral, selling out her inventory almost overnight.

“It took me from a nobody on TikTok to someone with 100,000 followers in one week,” Rogue said.

Today, it’s Rogue’s sharp curatorial eye for Y2K vintage that attracts teenagers from as far as Ithaca and Tokyo in search of Gen Z favourites such as oversized Phat Farm jeans and bedazzled Ed Hardy shirts — often at accessible price points. What’s currently trending, she said, dictates what ends up on the racks.

“We live in a world of fast fashion, but it’s so simple and suppresses our need to express our sense of style,” said Landetta. “With vintage from that era, you can go maximalist.”

There’s also an environmental and experiential appeal. Wearing pieces that already exist is more sustainable than buying new ones, and the deliberately dishevelled in-store experience delivers the thrill of the hunt.

Content Engine

In an attention economy where a product alone no longer guarantees loyalty, many creators have capitalised on their influence by creating product lines, whether on their own or through limited-edition collaborations with partners. Rogue, by contrast, is a retailer that operates like a creator with a merchant’s mindset. She treats her stores not just as places for sales transactions but as media hubs of content that deepens connection with her audience.

“Being there brings them one step closer to being posted on the story and then showing all their friends back home,” Rogue said.

For many younger shoppers, that chance to be featured on Rogue’s channels is central to the appeal.

“It feels like we play a role in her success, like we actually contributed to something that might otherwise feel out of reach,” said Eleanor Dexter, 22. “More than that, it makes us feel included in the community.”

Rogue has developed repeatable content franchises across her personal and brand social channels, which together reach over 2.5 million followers. Diary-style to-do lists on her Instagram Stories offer a window into her life as an entrepreneur. Street-style fit-check interviews are forums for her community to flex their style, often calling out the brands and prices of the items they’re wearing. One-minute fit challenges invite emerging artists such as musician Jake Webber (6.7 million followers), influencers like Fernanda Giménez (9.4 million followers) and music producer Benny Blanco (8.5 million followers) to assemble outfits from in-store pieces, which gamifies style for the TikTok generation.

She now live-streams on Twitch with top creators like iShowSpeed; an October appearance drew roughly 400 fans and drove a sell-out of a Rogue-designed T-shirt he wore.

The Scaling Question

Vintage retail is notoriously difficult to scale, given its supply constraints, inconsistent pricing and fast-moving taste cycles. While Rogue has found efficiencies around them, she has also expanded into its own line, Rogue Originals — a more predictable, higher-margin category. Best sellers include “R” tees (which iShowSpeed wore) and an all over cartoon print “Dream” hoodie and collaborations with millennial brands Ed Hardy and Affliction.

Rogue has also begun to monetise her growing audience and brand equity beyond apparel. This year, she started charging music labels to feature artists on her channels and secured lucrative brand partnerships with companies including Airbnb and Pinterest, brokered with the support of her agency, UTA. More recently, she launched a Rogue-branded acai-bowl venture with her entertainment-manager partner, Mateo Dorado. She is also planning to scale a recently launched beauty line, Wuv.u Beauty, a joint venture with [Blink Projects], a Korean holding company. She is Wuv.u’s majority shareholder and serves as its chief executive.

For now, though, the shop floor remains her focus.

“It’s cool to be kind to your customers, because without them you wouldn’t be where you are,” Rogue said. “A genuinely good experience sticks. People remember how you made them feel.”