Water bottles, the accessory Gen Z is thirsting after

Oversize tumblers reveal more about fashion than wellness

IF YOU THOUGHT a reusable water bottle was a plain, boring receptacle—brought out of the cupboard only for long hikes—then you would be wrong. For Gen Z, a water bottle is both a necessity and a fashion statement. Social media are awash with videos of tumblers. The hashtag #WaterTok has 2.5bn views on TikTok.

Gen Z is an eco-conscious cohort. Yet the reusable cup trend is more about style than sustainability. (Unsplash)

Youngsters connect their water bottles “to their outfit and to their lifestyle”, says Matt Navarro, global president of Stanley 1913, a leading brand. They festoon their cups with all kinds of accessories, including stickers and keychains. Some buy straps, snack trays and backpacks for their beakers.

To tap into demand, companies such as Owala and Yeti make bottles in all sorts of colours. Stanley has released collections with pop stars including Olivia Rodrigo and Post Malone. On July 14th the firm announced a new range with Lionel Messi, an Argentine footballer (pictured), in a blue hue similar to his national team’s kit.

An obsession with “self-care” helps to explain the flood of interest, as many believe that water is the secret to glowing skin and mental acuity. This has led to people drinking more, a trend dubbed “hydration inflation”. (Stanley’s most popular cup holds 1,200 millilitres of life-sustaining liquid.) The hype is quenching brands’ thirst for profit: the value of sales of portable drinkware in America reached $4bn in the year ending May 2025; some 270m containers were sold in the country, up from 240m two years ago.

Drinking fashions ebb and flow. In the late 1970s bottled water became the cool thing in America, notes James Salzman, the author of a book about drinking water. Luxury brands sprang up; by the 2000s celebrities were naming their favourites. Rumours swirled that Mariah Carey bathed in French mineral water. (She actually performs her ablutions in milk.)

Gen Z is an eco-conscious cohort. Yet the reusable cup trend is more about style than sustainability. The desire for Stanleys is so great that a secondary trade is thriving: limited-edition cups resell for as much as $800. Talk about liquid assets.