02.08.07
Taking it, to the streets!
There’s this thing: it’s like, basically t-shirts, but so much more. It’s about clothing, it’s about shoes, it’s about gear, it’s about style with substance, or just style. It’s about having the first before anyone else gets it. It’s underground, but also right in your face. The New York Times covered it in their The Brand Underground article; Theme Magazine has a nice spread on it — the X-Pollination of Streetwear.
It’s creeping into the mainstream but the “movement” as it were, is being documented and pushed along by blogs. That’s right, blogs. Check it out at Hypebeast, High Snobiety, Jeff Staple, or Mr Kim Says. Or any of the other inter-connected blogs that let you into a world of streetwear.
“This might seem strange, since most of us think of branding as a thoroughly mainstream practice: huge companies buying advertising time during the Super Bowl to shout their trademarked names at us is pretty much the opposite of authentic or edgy expression.
But branding is more complicated than that. It is really a process of attaching an idea to a product. Decades ago that idea might have been strictly utilitarian: trustworthy, effective, a bargain. Over time, the ideas attached to products have become more elaborate, ambitious and even emotional.
This is why, for example, current branding campaigns for beer or fast food often seem to be making some sort of statement about the nature of contemporary manhood. If a product is successfully tied to an idea, branding persuades people — consciously or not — to consume the idea by consuming the product.
Even companies like Apple and Nike, while celebrated for the tangible attributes of their products, work hard to associate themselves with abstract notions of nonconformity or achievement. A potent brand becomes a form of identity in shorthand.”
-The Brand Underground-