There are hoodies, and then there are the hoodies capable of causing something close to pandemonium among middle-school girls.

Pink Palm Puff falls firmly into the second category.

The oversized, embroidered sweatshirts in shades of pink, blue, lavender and cloud grey have become an unmistakable uniform for a generation of teens and tweens. The brand’s original $89 “Everything Comes in Waves” hoodie remains one of its signature pieces, and its desirability has been helped by something fashion has understood for decades: sometimes the hardest thing to get becomes the thing everyone wants.

According to the brand, demand has generated waitlists, while limited drops and sellouts have made getting a particular hoodie an event in itself. The original “Everything Comes in Waves” hoodie reportedly sold out within two minutes of going live, and by early 2025, Business Insider was describing the sweatshirt as a new status symbol among tween girls.

Except this wasn’t a heritage house reviving an archival logo or a celebrity arriving with an enormous launch budget. Pink Palm Puff was created in 2023 by Lily Balaisis, who was just 15 years old when she launched the company.

Balaisis already had a little entrepreneurial experience. At 11, she started a slime business, giving her an early taste of selling and social marketing. When she moved into fashion, she chose something she knew intimately: hoodies.

A self-described “hoodie fanatic,” Balaisis understood that for girls her age, a sweatshirt had to be comfortable, look good oversized and come in colors they actually wanted to wear. From there came Pink Palm Puff and its “endless summer” ethos, expressed through embroidered palms, pastels and a coastal-preppy sensibility.

Three years later, Balaisis remains founder and CEO, while her father, Linas Balaisis, serves as company president. The brand has grown without outside funding, making its rapid rise all the more notable.

PPP’s rise was less a conventional fashion trajectory than a lesson in how a youth brand is built now. Pink Palm Puff lived where its customer lived: TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, with teaser videos, unboxings, giveaways, creator content and anticipated drops fueling demand.

The Influencer Effect

Young female creators were instrumental in Pink Palm Puff’s early growth, with Glossy reporting that several of Balaisis’s own friends helped spread awareness of the brand.

That circle has since expanded to include creators such as Embreigh Courtlyn, PresLee Faith and Kenzie Yolles. Courtlyn collaborated directly with PPP on a collection bearing her name, while the brand has also taken its community on the road, including a Bahamas creator trip featuring Yolles and Faith.

Rather than relying on an established celebrity to tell teenage girls what is cool, PPP has embedded itself among creators who already speak to them every day. The hoodie appears on vacation, in bedrooms, in TikToks and in group photos with friends. It becomes part of the life being shown rather than simply the product being sold.

Inside the PPP Universe

Increasingly, that world exists offline, too.

Pink Palm Puff’s pop-ups have become events in their own right. A Toronto giveaway in November 2024 attracted large crowds to Queen Street West. Then came Miami.

For its May 2026 PPP Cloud Club activation on Lincoln Road, the brand offered limited merchandise, surprise giveaways and a free “Meet Me in Miami” hoodie for the first 50 people in line. People started lining up the night before and braved long lines to meet their favorite influencers like Embreigh Courtlyn and PresLee Faith.

There was also the Pink Palm Passport, a physical passport fans could have stamped inside the experience. In a world where nearly every stage of shopping can happen through a phone, the analog souvenir gave fans tangible proof that they had entered the PPP universe.

According to Balaisis, more than 10,000 people attended the Miami pop-up, with some traveling internationally.

“Our 4+ million combined social media followers are highly engaged, and our online community allows people to discover and live the Pink Palm Puff lifestyle every day, but our pop-ups give them the chance to experience the connection of our community firsthand,” she tells GRAZIA.

She has seen that connection play out in smaller ways, too. “I’ve seen many comments like, ‘Whenever I see someone in PPP, we always know to smile at one another,’” Balaisis says. “That kind of bond is rare, and it’s what drives everything we do.”

Beyond the Hoodie

The next test for any viral fashion brand is whether people love the product or love the brand enough to follow it somewhere else. Pink Palm Puff is now finding out.

After expanding into pajamas, sweatpants, swimwear and accessories, PPP has partnered with Pottery Barn Teen on a collection spanning bedding, backpacks, lunch gear, décor, accessories and room essentials.

“Partnering with Pottery Barn Teen felt like a natural extension of our brand,” Balaisis tells GRAZIA. “We’ve taken the beachy, optimistic spirit that our PPP community knows and loves and brought it beyond the closet.”

The collaboration translates PPP’s palms, beach references and familiar pinks, aquas and lavenders into teen bedrooms, incorporating embroidery, plush textures and pieces such as the PPP Surfboard Pinboard.

“What excited me most was the idea that PPP could now live in the spaces where our girls feel most like themselves,” Balaisis says. “Your bedroom is your sanctuary, and the idea of PPP being part of that felt so special.”

Scarcity has undoubtedly helped fuel Pink Palm Puff’s ascent. The waitlists matter, as do the sold-out drops. But scarcity can create a frenzy; it doesn’t necessarily create a lasting brand.

“We’ve always obsessed over making pieces people genuinely love to wear,” Balaisis says. “If the product weren’t something you actually want to live in, none of the rest would happen.”

Then comes the community. The PPP family shares collections, celebrates launches, travels to pop-ups and introduces the brand to friends. Balaisis, meanwhile, is essentially part of the generation she designs for.

“A huge part of it comes down to how deeply we listen to our customers,” she says. “They shape everything we do.”

For Balaisis, Pottery Barn Teen is an indication of how much bigger Pink Palm Puff can become.

“My dream has always been to build a brand that becomes part of people’s everyday lives in meaningful ways,” she says. “That means continuing to expand thoughtfully into new categories, creating more immersive experiences, and finding new ways for our community to interact with the brand beyond clothing.”

She sees possibilities across fashion, home and even travel, with the ultimate goal of creating “a timeless lifestyle brand that people grow up with.”

It’s an ambitious next chapter for a company that began with one teenager’s obsession with hoodies. But Pink Palm Puff has already managed something legacy fashion brands spend years chasing: creating an instantly recognizable It accessory without an archive, a celebrity founder or decades of history behind it.

“The product earns their attention, the aesthetic makes it feel like them, and the belonging is what keeps our community close-knit,” Balaisis says.

Or, as she puts it more simply: “A hoodie is something you own. Pink Palm Puff is something all members of the PPP family are a part of.”