Problems in Streetwear

According to Reuters, the streetwear market is estimated at a value of about $75 billion. Run DMC pioneered 80’s hip-hop in Adidas tracksuits. Polo Sport and Tommy Hilfiger unleashed on the scene in the 90’s. The 2000’s were clad in Mitchell & Ness while Marc Ecko became one of fashion’s most intriguing success stories. The 2010’s saw the revival of skate culture converging with streetwear (a once familiar relationship that lost its way a decade prior) due to the widespread rise of popularity in brands such as Supreme, The Hundreds, and Palace Skateboards. Current trends now even indicate the scene to drift more towards the world of high fashion. The market has seen its fair share of progression and in the grand scheme of things, it has been nothing but beneficial for the market.

However, that does not mean there are not problems in streetwear. For one, the market has been saturated with startup brands left and right but without any direction. This is a result of the huge influence of certain brands combined with the creative, entrepreneurship opportunity that naturally comes with the Internet. Another issue that the streetwear scene faces is the thriving resell culture that looms over it. Due to the high demand-low supply nature of most of the highest sought-after brands, the act of buying a product just to resell it for more than twice the retail price is very common. These are issues that, in my opinion, have solutions to them that can very well be addressed.

Like any successful industry that requires creativity, there will always be those who try to dip their hand in the honeypot…but that is okay because that is what sparks innovation in the first place. However, it is one thing if the influenced output from outsiders-looking-in is quality. It is another thing if that output is continuously stale, unoriginal, and downed in a sea off mediocrity that just continues to keep flooding. The Internet has given way to the marketplace travelling into a digital world. Websites such as Etsy, BigCartel, and Shopify have provided an outlet for those who want to not only create, but create and sell their creations. The problem with this is that startup brands in the e-commerce era of streetwear lack foundation and creativity. For example, one of the defining characteristics of Supreme is their iconic “box logo.” Countless startup brands have tried to emulate this style in their first collections but for a premium price. There is very little incentive for someone to purchase a product from one of these startups when they can very easily just pay the same price for something from an established brand. This saturation of the startup streetwear brand market is obviously not a problem to the bigger heads of the industry. Supreme does not care what End World Corp’s numbers are and Stussy is not hurting because Hellfire Collective’s latest collection was a hit. This does, however, hurt those brands and designers that actually are talented and deserve the recognition because they are being pigeon-holed into this stigma that these other unsuccessful brands have created. A possible route these brands can take to better their business is to post on online forums or niche online communities to ask for constructive criticism on collections and designs. This way they will be getting their name out there and at the same time will be given advice from their main demographic.

A classic form of marketing in fashion is the lookbook. A lookbook is a collection of photographs compiled to show off the brand’s latest collection for whatever season they are on. This ties in with the previous point of startups not being very creative. It has been a very common criticism of startups to put out lookbooks that pay more attention to the girls modeling their clothing than to the actual clothing itself. Taking an Instagram-famous girl, throwing a men’s top on her and snapping some photos at the beach will only get you so far. This tactic also does nothing to invite your target demographic to relate with your brand and image. Lookbooks are most effective when they are being able to relate to the models and envisioning yourself purchasing these products to wear them. One example of a great lookbook would be ONLY NY’s NYC Collection. The collection’s lookbook pictured people of New York going about their daily lives but wearing ONLY NY apparel. This makes the brand relatable. Another tactic that would be beneficial is to focus more on aesthetics and landscapes. For example, Born by Wolves’s F/W 2014 lookbook has beautiful photography and has great use of landscapes. It focuses on the fact that the pieces and garments are outdoorsy and rough.

There is a prevalent resell culture in the world of streetwear. Brands like Supreme, Off-Whyte, and Palace produce their products in low supply. This is due to various reasons. For one, exclusivity is one of the main elements of fashion and these brands take that into account. If everyone was able to wear Supreme, then Supreme would not be where they are right now. Another reason for the low quantity of production is simply due to man-power. For example, St. Alfred is one of the most renowned and sought-after shoe collaborators but they only own one store. Supreme is possibly the most famous streetwear brand of its time but it only operates two stores in the United States. Even though their profits say otherwise, these companies are still relatively small in comparison. Another aspect of streetwear culture that factors into this is that the streetwear crowd is a fickle one. If these companies do choose to sell more products or have the ability to have more supply, they will lose that prestigious or “pure” image that keeps them afloat. Brands such as Stussy and Huf have suffered this fate. The resell market is very similar to the stock market. When a reseller sells something on the secondary market, the brand does not see any of that extra profit. A way the brand can see that extra profit is to increase their supply, even slightly. For example, Supreme produces 10,000 “box logo” hoodies every year, spread across four different sizes (small, medium, large, and extra-large). Since they normally charge $140 per hoodie and they normally sell out in 10 seconds that is $1.4 million made before you have a chance to input your credit card number. If Supreme can raise their supply to even 15,000 they will still sell-out and will make extra money. hit counter