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This fall, for the first time in years, many students across the U.S. will return to the classroom in person. With a new (in-real-life) school year fast approaching, students and their families are already on the lookout for new gear: In fact, searches for “back to school supplies” increased by 80% in the last month versus the same period last year, while searches for “back to school deals” grew 40%.

We looked into what items back-to-school shoppers are searching for and found that the early 2000s are having a moment. One of this season’s hottest shopping trends is the Y2K aesthetic — with butterfly hair clips, trucker hats and inflatable dorm furniture making a comeback.

So as you get ready for the school year, we’re sharing the top-trending Y2K back-to-school items and Google tools to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Top Y2K trends

Search interest for school supplies spikes every August in the U.S., and it’s driven by searches for the usual suspects: file folders, pencil cases, notebooks and three-ring binders. This year, trending product searches are leaning into the Y2K style.

Back(pack) to the 2000s

As students head to the physical classroom, they’re ready to shop for the back-to-school staple: a brand new backpack. Searches for playful Y2K styles like “butterfly backpacks” spiked 190% over the last month and “metallic backpacks,” another iconic Y2K look, grew by 90% during the same period. Meanwhile, searches for “vintage backpack” reached a record high in the U.S. this month.

A clear favorite

Translucent and clear accessories were a trademark of early 2000s style. Now, the clear aesthetic is finding its way into school supplies: Searches for “clear post it notes” increased by more than 250% ahead of the back-to-school season, “clear bento boxes” are currently trending and searches for “clear pencil case” are at an all-time high.

Throwback threads

Y2K is also breaking through in back-to-school apparel trends. Search interest for “baggy jeans outfits” is up 650% this month, while searches for “claw clips,” “crochet top” and “trucker hats” are at an all-time high. You can also expect to see students sporting other early 2000s classics — like the “baby tee,” up 40% this year, and “butterfly hair clips,” up 80%.

Funky dorm decor

For students headed off to college, dorm room decorations are top of mind. Search interest for “Y2K room decor” increased 80% in the last month versus the same time period last year. Classic styles from the early 2000s are showing up in home goods — for example, searches for “smiley face rugs” increased 15% in the past month. Playful decor is on the rise too, with “inflatable furniture” searches up 10%, and “glow in the dark stars for ceiling” searches more than doubling over the past month.

Get the best back-to-school deals

Shoppers aren’t just looking for the coolest styles, they’re looking for the best deals. When you start back-to-school shopping on Google, our tools can help you find inspiration, research and compare products for the best value.

On sale filter

Tap the “on sale” filter when you’re searching for a back-to-school product on the Shopping tab to see recent price drops, deals and products on sale — making it simple to factor price into your search from the start.

Price insights

Ever wonder if you’re getting a good deal? Click into the product details page on Google Shopping for a price insights graph. It’ll show you whether a product price is high, low or typical compared to others across the web and in nearby stores.

Price tracking tool

If you’re getting a head start on shopping, our price tracking tool can help you monitor price changes leading up to the school year. When you find a product you’re interested in, tap the “Track Price” toggle on Google to get a notification when the price drops.

Our advertising partners often ask me, “how can I better understand where my dollars are being spent?” This question isn’t new. But as buying and selling digital ads has become more complex, tracking where the money goes has become more difficult. On average 15% of advertiser spend is unattributable, according to some industry estimates.

One of my biggest concerns about this trend is its impact on marketer confidence in digital advertising. How can we all provide greater visibility into the investments of agencies and advertisers to properly inform future media spend? While we can’t speak for the many other companies in this space, our platforms do not take hidden fees. Working with others in the industry, we’re committed to investing in solutions that bring greater trust to programmatic buying and advance a more transparent ecosystem.

Introducing Confirming Gross Revenue

Today we’re announcing Confirming Gross Revenue, a new solution that gives buyers and publishers a privacy-safe way to verify that no hidden fees are taken from digital advertising transactions when using Google Ad Manager.

The publisher can use the new Revenue Verification Report to see the aggregate gross revenue received from a specific buyer. Then the buyer and the publisher can verify the media cost from the buyer’s reporting matches the gross revenue the publisher received. If the numbers match, the buyer can confirm that their full media spend reached the publisher and no hidden fees were taken.

As we build out this feature, Display & Video 360 is onboard as an early tester. And, as a new solution, we’re in communication and collaboration with other demand-side platforms, sell-side platforms, publishers and agencies, who will test this feature and provide feedback to improve it. As we onboard more partners, we have started to gather some of this feedback.

“OMG prides ourselves in being industry leading advocates for full supply chain transparency. We believe this feature will be a great first step toward confirming that there are no hidden fees in programmatic buying, and having a seat at the table gives us the best opportunity to affect positive change for advertisers.”

– Philip Pollock, Chief Operating Officer, Omnicom Media Group Australia

“Transparency and trust go hand in hand and giving us additional access and insight into media costs is a step in the right direction. We look forward to being early adopters of the solution and partnering with Google to provide feedback on how to make improvements.”

– Eric Hochberger, CEO, Mediavine

“Greater transparency in the digital advertising supply chain through solutions like Confirming Gross Revenue is sorely needed. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to invest in creating industry standards like ads.txt, sellers.json, DemandChain Object and buyers.json to help everyone raise the bar on trust in programmatic buying. We look forward to working with Google on this privacy-forward solution and potentially incorporating these concepts into IAB Tech Lab’s standards portfolio.”

– Anthony Katsur, CEO IAB Tech Lab

Transparency without compromising privacy

As we continue to invest in solutions to bring more transparency into media buying, we’re also protecting people’s privacy and the contractual confidentiality of our partners. Transparency and privacy do not need to be at odds, which is why Confirming Gross Revenue only uses the data needed to confirm no hidden fees have been taken. To reduce the risk of user identification, the feature relies on aggregate gross revenue amounts, rather than combining granular log-level data.

Implementing industry standards

This solution builds on years of work to increase transparency to programmatic advertising, including steps we’ve taken to simplify our platforms and explain our own fee structure. In recent years, we’ve also participated in industry transparency standards across our buyside and sellside businesses, like ads.txt / app-ads.txt, sellers.json and SupplyChain Object. For example, we recently brought SupplyChain Object data into Ads Data Hub to help marketers using Display & Video 360 see the steps their impressions took before arriving on a publisher’s site.

Together, these initiatives give partners greater visibility into digital advertising. This can help inform buying decisions, improve bid transparency and strengthen fraud detection. Still, we recognize that there is more work to do.

A continued commitment

Confirming Gross Revenue is one part of our efforts to address concerns over lack of transparency that we have heard from publishers, agencies, advertisers and regulators. Over the next few months, we’ll continue to work with the industry on shaping this new solution and, more broadly, initiatives to instill more confidence in online advertising. Bringing greater transparency to advertisers, agencies and publishers is core to our approach. We welcome participation from others who want to work together to advance an ad-supported internet that works for everyone.