Unpair your AirPods and chargers be damned. Wired headphones<\/a> \u2013 the once infuriatingly tangled white cord tethering us all together \u2013 are booming after five straight years of tech advancements and subsequent declining sales. <\/p>\n We are plugging back in, so much so that there was a 20 per cent wired headphone revenue surge<\/a> in the first six weeks of 2026, bringing the tech accessory back from the brink after it suffered a $42m (\u00a331.2m) drop in 2024. <\/p>\n For the style set, this isn\u2019t a surprise. Vogue <\/a>declared the \u201chumble\u201d wired headphones to be on the up as far back as 2019, heralding the model \u2013 and Gen Z\u2019s all-round Y2K fashion<\/a> It-girl \u2013 Bella Hadid,<\/a> the leader of the movement after she was spotted sporting a pair alongside some Prada boots and a grey slate coat at New Orleans International Airport. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n The wired inclination spread quickly <\/a>through showbiz circles, with a cool crowd of stars, including actor Zo\u00eb Kravitz, Euphoria star Zendaya, Normal People\u2019s Paul Mescal, \u201cDenial is a River\u201d rapper Doechii, supermodel Emily Ratajkowski and nepo babies du jour Lily-Rose Depp, Apple Martin and Kaia Gerber all following in Hadid\u2019s well-styled footsteps. <\/p>\n Social media soon saw the somewhat antiquated item as a status symbol. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming a class thing,\u201d one viral tweet read <\/a>alongside an image of Robert Pattinson and Depp in earbuds. \u201cWearing wireless 24\/7 tells me you don\u2019t own any land,\u201d they added, to 16,000 likes of agreement. <\/p>\n By 2021, the Instagram account Wired It Girls<\/a> \u2013 now with 20,000 followers \u2013 had spawned. Brands clocked the trend and soon Apple\u2019s white wired headphones (once free in the box with a new phone) began to pop up in high fashion campaigns, notably Balenciaga\u2019s 2025 shoot with model Mona Tougaard and, most recently, activewear label Vuori\u2019s Spring\/Summer campaign with Gerber. Chanel even released their own pair of wired headphones<\/a>, which can be yours for a less humble \u00a312,600. <\/p>\n For the everyman, though, the price of wired headphones is a plus point that\u2019s seemingly bolstering the boom in the return to simpler, less technologically advanced times. Apple\u2019s wired EarPods now cost \u00a319, while in-ear AirPods sit at a minimum of \u00a3119 and a maximum of \u00a3219.<\/p>\n Our growing aversion to Bluetooth has everything to do with it, too. According to audio experts, you still get better sound for your money with wired headphones. Plus, you don\u2019t suffer any compression, battery or unsexy connection issues. \u201cBluetooth does not work,\u201d Kravitz stated in a recent interview<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s ruining important moments. Imagine the amount of times that you\u2019re with someone on a date, you\u2019re trying to set a vibe, and then you have to forget the network. On a date!\u201d she mourned. <\/p>\n Wired headphones are the latest in a long list of almost obsolete gadgets that have wormed their way back into Gen Z consumers\u2019 hearts to the surprise of tech retailers. Flip phones<\/a>, iPods, digital cameras \u2013 and even cassettes are now considered by young people to be fashionably vintage. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not surprised,\u201d says the Wired It Girls founder Shelby Hull of the surge in sales. \u201cWires are easily accessible, chic, low maintenance, low effort\u2026 I\u2019m just happy to see [them] getting the recognition they deserve.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n There\u2019s an aura to wired earbuds that\u2019s simply cooler. They\u2019re effortless, nonchalant, and don\u2019t come in a prissy case or make a nerdy ding when they connect. If AirPods are the headphone equivalent of the modern vape \u2013 wired earbuds are the timeless cigarette in terms of clout. They\u2019re a rugged, tangled \u2013 and supremely unbothered \u2013 piece of technology. <\/p>\n At a time when Big Tech companies are pushing their latest upgrades on consumers by making old products incompatible with the world at large (Apple ditched headphone jacks on iPhones in 2016, followed by Google\u2019s Pixel and Samsung\u2019s Galaxy), wired headphone wearers are opting out. It\u2019s a small, chic act of rebellion \u2013 that will always be just a little bit cool. <\/p>\n![\"Balenciaga\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wired-Headphones-feature-2048x1364-copy.jpeg\")
Balenciaga\u2019s Mona Tougaard wired up in a 2025 shoot (Balenciaga)<\/p>\n