The Bloglin’s Best of the Decade: The Top 10 Defining Phenomena in Streetwear
I stumbled upon this blog post by Mikhail from Mishka & Nat from A Silent Flute about “The Top 10 Defining Phenomena in Streetwear” while surfing the Hypebeast Blogs (Kevin Ma’s Blog) last night. Usually around this time of the year, many bloggers within our industry will sum up the year in their own words, however this year is a bit different considering it’s the end of the first decade of the 21st century. At the end of each year I try to steer away from summing it up in my own words because I usually like to learn from the past and proceed with the new. MiKhail & Nat basically summed up the words for many of us who set foot in this industry in the early 2000’s, they say…
“7) 2003 AKA The Year Streetwear Broke… 2003 was a noteworthy year for Streetwear, mainly because it was the year when the collective conscious of various like-minded entrepreneurs with similar tastes and backgrounds sought to go out into the world and leave their mark. That mark happened to be starting a Streetwear brand. We started in 2003, The Hundreds started in 2003, Mighty Healthy, King Stampede, 3Sixteen, Rockers NYC, Triumvir, Pricele$$ (RIP), and countless other brands (some still around) either started up or at the very least laid the seeds for what most might call the third major wave of Streetwear in ‘03… But not only was this the year many of us went into heavy debt, it was also the year that the people behind these brands helped make the very noticed paradigm shift in saying Streetwear doesn’t exclusively have to be about Hip Hop. It can be about a whole wealth of other things that influenced us growing up besides the 5 elements. Still, truthfully, none of this would have been possible were it not for…”
They continue with more things that I would like to forget about, for example the all-over-print movement, and the beginning of the recession felt around the Streetwear sector triggered by inexperienced boutiques popping up everywhere leading to the crash and annihilation of many brands who went down with these bad business decisions. I like their whole context on the “We Grown Up Now Movement” and the connection between Streetwear brands and the Nike Dunk movement that I personally experienced on Niketalk.com.
After thinking about it, this is a pretty good read… lastly I would like to say… 2003… it looks blurry in my mind right now. I don’t know how I continue to do this thing called Triumvir, a lot of times I feel like its a really expensive hobby of mine that involves close people/friends who depends on me to come out with a concept/design that has to be approved and generally excepted to our audience and peers… its difficult at times… because this translates Triumvir into a business, which wasn’t my initial goal when I was painting sneakers in 2003….
10) Screen Prints to Oxford Shirts: The We Grown Up Now Movement
Like a lot of things in Streetwear, this happened in Japan first—by the time most folks stateside caught wind of Streetwear, Japanese brands were producing full cut & sew collections. Screen printing is a quick, easy, and dirty way to get an idea and an aesthetic across. But to tell a more complete story in clothes, at some point you’ve got to put some pieces together. Looking to grow as fully as some of the more established Japanese and US brands on the market, brands always dabbled lightly in cut & sew. But over the past two years, the predominant fashion trends took a lot of aging and less enthused Streetwear fans away from the candy colors and folded them into the new trends of Americana and heritage brands. The market demands, the companies supply. Plus come on, what are most people going to do with a goat head t-shirt past 26 years of age? (Well, maybe keep it safely stashed for when you hit 35 and inevitably hit the whole “Dammit! I don’t want to look like my dad” phase…)
9) Supreme Goes Online
Supreme has long been (and still is) the standard when it comes to the most coveted of Streetwear brands. They pioneered inaccessibility when it came to Streetwear. If you wanted Supreme, you used to have to go either to their shop in NY or their shop in Japan, and wait in line (and keep your fingers crossed that they would be willing to put out the item you were looking to buy). The next best option was to pay inflated prices to a re-seller who was willing to do the waiting for you. But then one day it all changed… Supreme had a website, then an online store, which, while not open 24/7, is open often enough that when coupled with mailing list notifications, it gives anyone, anywhere in the world, the chance to buy some Supreme goods.
The reason why this is such a defining moment is because for the longest while, the Old Guard of Streetwear seemed to consider (or at least treat) the hype blogs, forums, online stores, and boutiques sprouting up left and right as a passing fad, thinking that one day it would all go back to the secret handshakes, winks and nods, “We’re big in Japan” system. So when Supreme went online, they made the statement that needed to be said for anyone still in doubt: “the game has changed”. Of course, this being Supreme, they still will do everything in their power to run the rules of the game in whichever way it suits their (much deserved) ego.
The “All-Over Print”
What was once the golden goose is now the bastard step-child we might be all too quick to write off. To be fair, Streetwear didn’t invent the so-called all-over print—high end design houses had been using patterns and prints for eons, and the oversized all-over print tee was very much a staple of the merch catalog for any 90s band worth their salt. Streetwear only brought this sometimes garish design concept back at just the right moment. What started with t-shirts quickly evolved into hoodies with A Bathing Ape leading and dominating the market. But Bape merely created the the impetus for countless smaller and larger brands to not only run with, but actually establish their brands through a few key all-over pieces. Eventually, major retailers like Old Navy and H&M took notice and begin introducing cheaper (and usually higher quality) all-over print alternatives to the Streetwear mainstays, killing off the once dominant trend. So while most scramble to distance themselves from it as a played-out relic, let’s not forget its significance.
7) 2003 AKA The Year Streetwear Broke (anecdote above…)
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6) The Nike SB & Quickstrike Craze
It started with Co.Jp Dunks and NikeTalk, then came the ignored Pro Bs, which then spiraled into the must have SBs followed by quickstrikes, hyperstrikes, sneaker boutique collabs, and most importantly, kids waiting in line for days on end just for a pair of new sneakers. Sneaker collecting had hit its tipping point by 2003 as well. The culture around it was fully realized, and now that everyone had the freshest and rarest kicks, they needed clothing to match, apparently. Enter the Streetwear brands, many of whom got started making tees to match SB colorways and trying to capitalize on the the sneaker hype. This would, of course, lead to some being stocked in the same boutiques where the sneakers were sold and becoming the first nod in legitimizing each venture into a full fledged brand. Ironically, all of this probably could have been nipped in the bud had Nike decided to introduce NSW 5 years sooner than they actually did. Thank you to Nike for that oversight in letting all of this happen.
5) Brand Blogs
As mentioned numerous times before, if you followed Streetwear in the late 90s to early 00s, it was a very clandestine environment. Many times the consumers didn’t know anything about the labels’ owners, inspirations, or motives. All you had was the gut sense that things resonated with your core and you were buying a share in something to help you stand out from the crowd. However, as the crowd of people hungry for this grew, the don’t ask/don’t tell policy that dominated the earlier culture of Streetwear didn’t seem to resonate with the newer generation. Kids wanted to know about the clothing they wore, and they didn’t want to have to spend hours in a library or record shop just to figure it all out. They wanted the brands to tell them about it and share their inspirations, which would in turn inspire them and create a sense of community. I mean, we were all striving to create “Lifestyle Brands”, so shouldn’t the brands and their audiences be keyed in on each others lifestyles a bit?
This is where the blog came in. While blogs have been part of internet culture since the mid 90s, attaching one as a window into what drives a brand was a stroke of genius that not only kept the customer abreast on the latest news from their favorite brand, but became integral to the creative process from collection to collection! The Hundreds best exemplified the marriage of blog and brand, and the power it could wield, back before most brands even had real websites. Nowadays, you can’t find a so-called “lifestyle brand” without a blog. Some blogs are regularly updated with the coming and goings about the brand’s operation, events owners and employees while others (like the Bloglin) focus more on being a media hub for those things that inspire brand creativity and what they would like to pass on to their customers. Whichever it might be, it’s a way of not only giving back, but connecting company and consumer.
4) The Boutique Boom
With the emergence of hype blogs (see below), Streetwear culture and style began growing, spreading, and evolving at lightspeed—there was now a democratic and fast-paced hub of Streetwear information. People’s interests were sparked en masse, and shops began to pop up coast to coast. Shoppers would ask their local stores why they weren’t carrying any of the brands they saw online. What used to be a few isolated shops in the major markets of the world, in a few short years turned into hundreds of accounts. A few long running businesses saw the writing on the wall—the days of urban style were over and they needed to adapt or die. Many new shops were opened by enthusiastic fans of the style who wanted to bring it to their own home towns. Before you knew it, what used to be concentrated on the coasts of the U.S., was now all over the country. Still a small movement in comparison to, say, the volume of Gaps and Abercrombies, the rate at which it happened was staggering for the brands involved.
Sadly, many of these shops couldn’t separate what they imagined on the internet with what their actual customers wanted and how it should be introduced and presented to them. Many new boutiques seemed to open overnight and were operated by people who (while perhaps armed with good intentions) either had no experience or no business opening any type of store, while the longstanding stores willing to take a shot on Streetwear had no clue how to introduce it to their existing customer base, expecting the same old strategies that worked before would also work now. And while this definitely doesnot apply to all the boutiques that sprang up, the Streetwear boutique craze sadly turned into an industry run mostly by people without a clue.
This of course leads us to where we are now, with many of these shops off the radar, many labels without the doors to sell and support their growth, and general confusion as to where retail is going. The predominant following trend seems to be online retail, so now we’ll watch that evolve.
3) Pharrell and Kanye
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Pharrell and Kanye did more for Streetwear than your salty, jaded old head will ever want to admit. More than Kaws, Futura, or any other artist you can name who actively contributed their work and time into building this community. These two became the style icons to a generation of youth and gradually helped to destroy the oversized and baggy urban style that dominated everything skate to Streetwear for the past decade, and ushered in a whole new sense of Young Men’s fashion.
Smartly taking the lead as style leaders in hip-hop and pop culture, they spread the gospel, and next thing you knew, you got Lil’ Wayne in Bape, Jigga in Crooks, and every rapper starting their own street style line. These guys were one giant 24/7 billboard for Streetwear as a whole, and everyone (be it BBC and Bape or Мишка) benefited from their interest in this culture.
2) The Hype Blogs
Where would we all be without the hype blogs? It all started with sites like Beinghunted, Crooked Tongues, and RTHQ earlier in the decade—somewhat regularly updated and almost covert information sources for those who wanted to know what was happening in Streetwear, street art, and music. Soon after, Superfuture’s forum, Supertalk, became the place where those interested in Streetwear went to discuss and argue about what was and wasn’t cool. There was a time when you used to be able to go days without having to visit any of these sites and not worry about falling behind on the latest news in Streetwear, but that all seemed to change overnight with the coming of the hype blogs—a daily or constant stream of product finds and updates.
Hypebeast, High Snobiety, and SlamxHype seemingly sprang up in short succession. By scouring the other known fashion sites and sneaker forums, all three sites made sure that we got our instant gratification, multiple times a day. And since the old boys network of what was Streetwear prior to the sites’ arrival wasn’t exactly sending out press releases on upcoming projects or even validating the sites as legitimate media sources, these sites were more open to working with newer, upcoming labels by featuring their clothes and doing stories on them, something they (and we) quickly discovered that those visiting the sites were just as interested in learning about.
And who could forget the significance of sites like Satorialist, Lookbook, Facehunter, Hel-Looks, and even the WDYWT thread on Supertalk and the Hypebeast forums. While not hype blogs per se, these daily updated collections of snapshots of real people dressed at their best not only inspired customers’ style, but brands’ style as well.
Today, much like many of the brands that got their start this decade, the major hype blogs (Hypebeast, Highsnobiety, SlamxHype, and Freshness) are all thriving businesses of their own right. They have all started establishing their own unique identities and voices for this “culture”. Some changes have been subtle and calculated while others have been so drastic that, sadly, the very thing that spawned their birth (Streetwear) no longer seems to be as welcome as it once was on their sites.
1) Union NY Closes
I hope we don’t have to outline the significance that Union NY served within the Streetwear community. Since the 90s, this cramped and colorful shop was the place for the hottest and freshest of anything and everything in Streetwear. If and when Union finally picked your brand up, you could rest comfortably, knowing that all of the other top tier boutiques (along with some Japanese accounts) would soon follow. But more so, Union NY genuinely cared about the culture and spreading the word about its prestigious stable of brands. Union co-signing you was the Streetwear equivalent of getting a Roc-A-Fella medallion circa the late 90s.
Union NY closed its doors this year for good, signaling that things going into this next decade have indeed changed. Sure, there is a Union LA, but anyone who’s been to or dealt with both knows that these places only shared a name and a few accounts. With Union NY gone, those brands who started up this decade and last decade lost their childhood home forever. We’re all swimming in uncharted waters.
I can’t think of a more fitting, sad, and defining closing chapter to lead us into the next decade in Streetwear than this.”
by BRANDON
