A fan theory about Tom Holland’s fashion choices has resurfaced and is going viral on TikTok — people are convinced he wears a Z for Zendaya on all of his pants.
The viral theory appears to have been circulating on Tiktok since July 2022, when a photo of Holland wearing grey jeans, taken while the actor was having lunch in the Hamptons, New York, circulated on the app in a video that has received 224,000 views.
Users noticed that in the photos, which were published by the Daily Mail at the time, there appeared to be a Z embroidered on the back of Holland’s jeans.
Some users began to theorize that the Z was a tribute to the actor’s long-term girlfriend, Zendaya, as a romantic gesture, but other users dismissed the idea, saying that the embroidery might represent the brand where the actor purchased the jeans. Others theorized that perhaps he was actually wearing a pair of Zendaya’s jeans which had her initials on them, as the pair have said they have swapped clothing items with each other in the past.
In mid-March, the rumor about Holland’s pants resurfaced, when the Daily Mail published photos of the actor grocery shopping with Zendaya in London. In one of the photos, an embroidered Z is visible on the back pocket of Holland’s brown pants.
“Idk if this is sweet or creepy. Imma go with sweet because I love them so much,” one user wrote in a TikTok video, which has 373,000 views, where she compiled multiple photos of Holland’s pants to support the theory that the embroidery represents Zendaya’s initial.
Commenters under the video began to say the fact the Z appears on multiple pairs of Holland’s pants suggests they are less likely to be part of the clothing or brand he wears, and more likely to have been stitched on by hand. Some users suggested they thought Zendaya might have customized the pants for him as a way of claiming him for herself.
“Zendaya be like ‘That’s mine,'” one user wrote, while another person commented, “#propertyofZendaya,” under a separate video about the theory.
Holland and Zendaya are one of the most universally shipped couples on TikTok, where a hashtag for the couple, “#Tomdaya,” has 3.6 billion views.
The duo appear to have tried to keep their relationship out of the public eye as much as possible. However, rumors about their personal lives often go immensely viral on social media.
In June 2022, Zendaya appeared to dispel a rumor that she was pregnant with Holland’s child which was circulating on TikTok. More recently, in early March, fans theorized that a clip showing Zendaya appearing to snub Paul Mescal’s attempt to hold hands at the SAG Awards displayed her loyalty to Holland, as users compared the video to other clips of the star refusing the hand of male co-stars at public events.
Holland and Zendaya were first linked after starring in the “Spider-Man” Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy together, and explosive online speculation about the pair first began in July 2021, when they were photographed kissing in a car, and longstanding rumors that they might have been dating was seemingly confirmed for the first time.
Holland later told GQ that he and Zendaya felt “robbed” of their privacy by the photograph.
“One of the downsides of our fame is that privacy isn’t really in our control anymore, and a moment that you think is between two people that love each other very much is now a moment that is shared with the entire world,” Holland said.
Representatives for Zendaya and Tom Holland did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
