Most people want to have the latest and greatest. Many refer to it as keeping up with the Joneses. The backbone of this is the younger crowd.
Most teenagers are always on the ball, looking for new and different ways to achieve the spotlight. One effective method is keeping up with the fashion trends. Obviously the place where you will see this happen is at a school. The school is usually the place where students are divided into groups and are divided amongst there qualities and features. The main factor in distinguishing the students is by the type and style of the clothing they are wearing. From my experience the more popular students would tend to wear the latest trends, the coolest style and anything else that is on the edge of the fashion world. The more casual students will wear regular clothing but will sometimes have the trendy clothes in order to get some of the other more popular children to notice them and have them as part of their group. Movies such as "Can't Hardly Wait" and popular television series tend to portray this image as well. Where reality does the same. .
Other factors tend to affect teenagers choice of clothes and other accessories due to the large amount aviliable. People have different tastes in style. Me, I like white tennis shoes, while on the other hand my mother despises white tennis shoes therefore displaying fashion preference. This is seen everywhere. People choose what they like, wither it be visual appealing clothes or just colors that contrast nicely. They go for what strikes their fancy. Not just what can be offered. On the other hand teenagers also have to be forced to go with what they can afford. Some families can not afford to give their children what they want which usually leaves them to a plain, and less off the fashion edge due to their income and limits their choice on clothing and restricts them to their fashion choices. .
Whither it is teens craving for the latest and greatest because of their style choices, or just to be like their friends.