Trends come and trends can go. Here’s a list of what we’d like to see gone by 2017.
By Tira Lee
We try to keep a fair, unbiased view of streetwear brands that come up on our radar, because everyone deserves a shot at getting to Supreme-level success, right? But we pretty much draw the line at a bunch of sweatshirts slapped with Nazi signs. And while we’re at it, can the industry purge itself of other equally problematic trends like referencing the KKK, featuring the Rising Sun flag, and producing statement tees that don’t say much about the brand? On that note, can people also stop wearing Native American headdresses to Coachella too?
We’ve lost count of the number of labels that have casually thrown up slogans that glamorize mental disorders ranging from mild depression to suicidal thoughts. Even a certain super hype streetwear label couldn’t resist appropriating mental disorder. Moral of the story: Kids are impressionable; a little suicide hoodie goes a long way.
Overnight queuing; constantly bemoaning on your Instagram about how you’re gonna have to “take the L” on the latest drop; explaining the (failed) logic of dropping cash on a brick — do these sound familiar to you? We all plead guilty to some degree. In 2017, let’s be smarter about our purchases, so we don’t all end up looking like monochrome-striped, bogo’d, joggered versions of each other.
Photo: Timothy Suen at the launch of Off-White Singapore
Really now? Scoring a pair of those Yeezys must have cost you a pretty big buck. To go ham at it with a pair of scissors just to look questionably cool in front of Virgil Abloh… Foot in mouth anybody?
Case in point, the Life of Saint Pablo merch. At those prices, the only reason why people are paying is because it’s got Kanye all over it. But other streetwear brands are following the same business model, i.e. marking up the price of their screen-printed collection to more than 40% of the cost price. Business is business is business, but not everyone can pull off a Kanye, guys.