Growing up, I would say about 90% of my closet was decked out in flip sequin t-shirts, and patterned leggings all supplied by the popular tween clothing store — Justice: Just for Girls. As a little girl, I remember walking into Justice, being completely mesmerized by the neon walls and sequined stuffed animals as One Direction blared from the speaker. It felt equivalent to a day in Barbieworld. 

My friends and I often reminisce on our Justice fashion choices or shopping there. From my 2015 emoji Christmas dress, to my mermaid print Converse, Justice became a part of my childhood memories. Wearing Justice was — “cool.” Sadly, tweens of Gen Alpha won’t have the luxury of looking back at cringey childhood photos, to see them decked out in their Justice outfits. 

Many students remember Justice fondly. Brenna Vassalo shared her experience. “My favorite memories about Justice would probably be shopping with my mom there all the time, or looking through all of the random toys and stuffed animals and journals they had,” said freshman journalism major Brenna Vassalo. “The overall environment of the store made it more of an experience than just shopping.”

Freshman fashion design major TJ Chaccour shared how kind the employees were to her. “One of the first times I walked into the store, I remember there was this worker and she comes in and she starts asking me, ‘Is there anything I can help you find? What’s your favorite color?’” Chaccour said. “And I tell her obviously that it’s purple and we start looking for a bunch of purple things and I felt so grown up and special.”

Justice opened in 2004 as the side brand of the popular 90s teen brand, Limited Too. In 2008 Limited Too began to transition all of its stores to exclusively sell its Justice brand. Unfortunately, The brand closed its doors in 2021 after Bluestar Alliance acquired the Justice brand from Ascena Retail after winning a bankruptcy auction with a $71 million cash bid. Now, Justice merchandise can be found in Walmart, but this will never compare to the feeling of walking into the neon-painted store.

At that time I was 14, so I no longer shopped at Justice, but seeing the “closing sale” sign outside the door felt like the ending chapter of my childhood. 

The closing of Justice changed the trajectory of how tweens of today dress and even act. In recent years, it’s become apparent that tweens are growing up faster than they should be. 

According to the BBC the average parent gives their child a phone at the age of 10. Having a phone opens up the world of social media, meaning they can be influenced by what celebrities are wearing, what’s trending and where to shop. This can be very harmful to a 10-year-old’s brain, as they are so impressionable to what they see, causing them to want to fit in with the influencers of today. Meaning, there’s less of seeing tweens in fun, tacky, neon outfits.

This has become more apparent in recent years, as we’ve witnessed the Sephora kids epidemic of 2025. Tweens would go into Sephora begging their moms for Drunk Elephant skincare: a skincare brand ranging from prices of $20 up to $140, said to be targeted toward adults, not kids. 

The tween obsession with skincare got so bad that they began adding the “Sephora kids” bill, prohibiting anyone under 18 from buying over-the-counter, anti-aging skin care or cosmetic products.

Chaccour shared how she notices tweens nowadays often looking older. “I’m looking at middle schoolers and I can’t even tell what age they are. They almost look as old as me and it’s kind of crazy,” Chaccour said. 

Lots of people felt very critical toward the idea of kids partaking in the skincare obsession. But looking back at this, who can blame them? These tweens have nowhere else to shop, nowhere specifically designed for tween girls to be themselves.

Justice proved itself to be more than just a store. Justice continually promoted self-love, girl empowerment and stood by its slogan, “just for girls.” Justice held numerous clothing collections that stood by their motto. “Play like a girl” was their athletic wear collection, and their collection “Every Girl is Awesome” included t-shirts with girl empowerment sayings. 

In 2017, the company released one of its monthly catalogs (which are no longer made) featuring a young model wearing a bright blue hijab. This made waves in the media, as it promoted inclusivity for young girls. 

Muslim fashion-blogger Hassanah El-Yacoubi told the HuffPost, “‘I honestly teared up when I saw the ad because it’s a celebration of what it means to be different and shows that difference is what makes us beautiful.”’ 

Therefore, having no tween-specific brands has made it harder for tweens to make the transition from childhood to teenhood. When searching up top tween stores, the options are Old Navy, H&M, Kohl’s and American Eagle. When I was growing up, I saw these stores to be places only my older sister or my mom shopped at. These stores seemed so bland to me as a child; I couldn’t imagine shopping at these growing up.

“Girls today don’t have access to spaces like that [Justice] and are being influenced, and looking up to older girls and women that don’t create content or spaces intended for young girls,” said Vassallo.

It’s evident that we’re going to see Gen Alpha want to look more mature at an increasingly faster rate. But what we’ve discovered is that it’s not their fault and the realm of tween fashion has officially died.

Justice will forever remain a store near and dear to my heart as a place where I learned what it means to be a girl. For now, we can hope that tween fashion will someday make a comeback.

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Hi! I’m Hannah Planey, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.