To a specific group of very online Zillennials, âthe bootsâ means only one thing: Frye Campus boots. The style has become the hottest commodity amongst the TikTok fashion girlies, especially in the shade âbanana.â Theyâre currently sold out in multiple sizes and colorways at nearly all Frye retailers, and used versions donât last long on resell sites like Poshmark, eBay, and The RealReal. As a result, the boots are being duped at an alarming rate at places like Amazon and Target. They are everywhere and they are nowhere.
On TikTok, a search for âFrye Campus bootsâ yields hundreds, if not thousands, of videos about the style. Some show off their collections of rare vintage Campus boots, while others just lust for them in real time. âThey are slowly becoming my personality, and I have worn them with every outfit I could,â says one influencer to camera, cradling her boots like a newborn baby. (At $500 a pop, they are, arguably, worthy of the cradle.)
I was not ready for the cultish level of obsession over this 50-year-old style from a brand which had, at various points during my three decades on Earth, been heralded as both the epitome of cringe and the zenith of cool. My 30-something colleagues and I all remember our own Frye-boot erasâthe chokehold the knee-high side-zip riding boots had over the girls in my high school was unparalleledâand were bewildered as the 20-something women in our lives spoke of setting restock alerts on their phones and scouring their hometown vintage stores for a stray pair.
So whatâs the deal? What is causing this massive resurgence of Frye Campus boots?
Piera Onorati, senior vice president of merchandising at Authentic Brands Group, which owns The Frye Company, credits âsocial media buzz and organic VIP placementsâ for driving the trend. Onorati says the brand has seen a 35% increase in sales of Campus boots in 2024. And itâs trueâGen Z icons like Olivia Rodrigo, Addison Rae, and Zendaya have all been photographed in Frye Campus boots lately.
But to me, this trend seems to go beyond idolizing celebrity style. Many of the bootâs biggest champions on social media tout not just its cosmetic featuresâits hefty stacked heel, its blunt, squared toeâbut its history. Frye is no Louis Vuitton or Gucci, but the name carries weight.