Why does pumpkin spice season start in summer?
- Oona Warren
- Oct 3, 2025
- 3 min read
There’s nothing quite like walking into a store and being hit with a blast of Fall spirit— until you check the calendar and realize it isn’t even autumn yet. Why does pumpkin spice season start so early? Why do you see Halloween aisles starting in July and August?
Obviously a hallmark of sweater weather season is Starbuck’s pumpkin spice latte, coined the PSL for short. While it may seem like the PSL has had society in its ironclad grip for forever, it was once a crazy idea thrown out into the void of seasonal drink pitches. In the midst of caramel and chocolate coffee concoctions, a pumpkin flavored drink slipped through with extra points for uniqueness. So on October 10th, 2003, the pumpkin spice latte was released into Starbucks stores.
Pumpkin spice quickly became a sensation. Other coffee brands, like Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme, Peet’s Coffee, and La Colombe have all created their own variation or imitation of the nostalgic Fall drink. Stores haven’t stopped at lattes, or even sweets; everything you can think of— from pumpkin spice hummus to pumpkin spice mochi to pumpkin spice Goldfish to pumpkin spice dogfood— has been turned into an indicator that holiday capitalism is upon us.
So why does this season start earlier every year? The actual Autumn season doesn’t start until after the Autumnal Equinox, September 21, yet stores are decked out in their Halloween spirit starting as early as July or August. This phenomenon is sometimes known as ‘Summerween.’ Summerween is actually a fictional holiday stemming from the animated show Gravity Falls. Since the Summerween episode aired in 2012, many have latched onto the idea in more recent years, even throwing themed parties in June. More generally, it has come to describe the time that Halloween decorations start to appear in stores. Often arriving in the hottest part of summer, Summerween yearns for the crisp weather of Fall.
Not only do people long for cool weather, they also long for a change of pace. Once the Back-to-School shopping rush is over, we enter a lull. It isn’t quite Fall, but it doesn’t feel like summer either. Putting Fall-themed products out earlier gets customers to buy into the season before it even arrives, using anticipation as a genius retail strategy.
Another factor is the Christmas creep. You know, the time of year you start to hear Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” at every business, even though Thanksgiving hasn’t even passed yet. When Christmas products are put out earlier and earlier each year, as a byproduct, so are Thanksgiving and then Halloween products. Putting seasonal items out earlier helps prevent having
unsold inventory after the holiday passes.
Of course, the driving reason, at least in the case of the lattes, is their massive popularity. Had the PSL not blown up and become a Fall staple, who knows what coffee shops would be capitalizing off of starting in August. Personally, I’ve come to appreciate the coziness that pumpkin spice brings to the season.
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Learned a lot, very cool article.