Is supreme really supreme?

Supreme once a small skate company based in New York is now one of the most recognizable names in fashion. Starting out only selling skateboards and t-shirts supreme has branched out and evolved into a streetwear empire collaborating with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Stone Island. Supreme has 11 storefront locations but sells most of their products online through their implemented drop dates. Supreme has designed a clever method to make their products more desirable by limiting the actual amount of each product. The way they sell the products is very crucial to the development of customer support. They have implemented a drop program where they sell new items every Thursday at 11am. 

Supreme is an embodiment of pseudo individuality but not in the traditional sense. Supreme has created a supportive customer base by making their items limited as well as having structured drop program. By having new items released every week that are just a little different from the last the customers will never be unsatisfied. When you purchase supreme you not only get the object itself but you also get this feeling of accomplishment. Since it is so limited and the structure of the drops are so organized almost anyone can just go on the site and try to buy a product. But its really not easy most of the website sells out in under 60 seconds with the most popular selling out as fast as 3 seconds. So if you are lucky enough to check out you actually feel supreme. 

But does supreme really make you feel supreme or is it just all a scam. Most people view supreme as an investment saying that if you purchase a product you are automatically guaranteed your money back on the resell market. This is true but it is only true because the customers made this happen. Without the customers supreme is nothing, we the consumers are what makes something popular it doesn't happen out of nowhere. By releasing new products every week supreme is creating a distraction from what you actually need in life. 

the rise and fall of yeezy

In a sneaker lifes youtube video he describes the rise and fall of the yeezy. The yeezy is a shoe made by famous rapper kanye west. He originally worked on the shoe with Nike but then transferred to Adidas thus leading to its downfall. When the shoe first came out it was the holy grail of all sneakers, it was impossible to get and extremely expensive but everyone wanted it. Now the shoe is very easy to get and is more affordable than it was before but now nobody wants it. Ever since the shoe was made widely available it has led to a decrease in popularity as well as resale value for example a shoe that used to sell for thousands are now only selling for 200. Everyone used to complain that the shoe should be made widely available to everyone but now people want the shoe to be limited because it's not cool to have something that everybody else has. In conclusion, making the shoe in high quantities destroyed its reputation to the sneaker community.  

It is making a mass-culture theory argument because it directly shows the effect of mass producing items. The yeezy used to be one of the most sought after shoes in the world selling for a retail price of $220 and fetching upwards of $5000 a pair on the resell market. After switching to Adidas the yeezy slowly started to decline as they produced more pairs making the shoe less limited. This led to a decrease in popularity amongst the consumer because they did not want a shoe that everyone could get. People want something that stands out and separates them from the rest. 

Even though the yeezy is not as popular that is used to be among the streetwear and shoe community it has still accomplished many things for the brand as a whole. The yeezy was one of the most sought after shoes and the biggest complaint at first was that it was so hard to get. Kanye realizing this problem he decided to make them in bigger runs going from only 3000 pairs to over 300,000 for each release. This is beneficial to the brand itself in the way that they are making more money but on the other end it has ruined their reputation to the community.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjwqKcmnj8

Who is the most popular consumer in fashion?

Baker, Renee, et al. "Identifying tween fashion consumers' profile concerning fashion innovativeness, opinion leadership, internet use for apparel shopping, interest in online co-design involvement, and brand commitment." Fashion and Textiles, vol. 6, no. 1, 2019. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A583933163/AONE?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=AONE&xid=be7a64fe. Accessed 16 Jan. 2020.

I am familiar with the search process of using the schools database so for me it wasn't too complex of finding an article to my liking. I choose this article in particular because I am very interested in fashion and what makes certain clothes and brands more popular than others. I ended up choosing Gale academic Onefile as my database choice and I have found over the years using the other databases and not just the library's database is more helpful because it provides more sources than what you would find on the library's database. It is also much easier if you do an advanced search because it allows you to use multiple keywords to narrow down the options. 

In this article it discusses the influencers of fashion particularly focusing on the U.S. childrenswear market, fashion adoption theory, and whether or not consumers can be segmented into different groups. This childrenswear market or “tweens” are children ranging from the ages of 7-14, they are responsible for the $43 billion in spending power and apparel represents the primary purchase category. Fashion adoption theory is an individual's decision making process to adopt any given style. Tweens have dominated the consumer market because of their ability to adopt new styles. These consumers can be broken down into different groups fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders, innovative communicators and fashion followers. These groups are all responsible for the advancement of new trends and styles.

I thought this article was pretty interesting for me personally because it gave me information that I was not familiar with and I actually learned from it. I didn't know that the consumer group was mainly focused around kids ranging from 7-14. I was confused mainly for the reason that probably all of these kids don't make their own money and have to rely on parents to make purchases. So why is it that the people who dont make money are responsible for what is popular in fashion. That just confused me because when I was that age it didn't really peak my interest to wear these “cool” brands and now they are the biggest consumer group.  

Fashion

Fashion is something in modern day society that is changing frequently, almost never staying the same for longer than a few months time. In popular culture, fashion refers to terms like purchase of clothing, marketing, changes in production, and more. Fashion is constantly evolving, as it is a competitive business. Throughout fashion, strong celebrity names hold a strong presence in not only the fashion world, but popular culture in general. Fashion role models such as Jay Z have progressed the world of fashion throughout his career, often times being noted for the way he dressed.
Fashion can show up in different parts of society, from boutiques to runways, in clothing shops as well as on the streets. Continuously producing new versions of itself throughout different channels, fashion is a competitive business between designers, often times fighting for the most popular celebrities to "promote" their styles and fashions to society. By doing this, designers are marketing their products, to go along with and follow a certain type of consumer fashion style that is currently popular. By having a specific type of fashion, designers and brands often times grow their follower base, cementing people in society to specific cultures. Often times, designers and big name clothing brands will use a point person, or marketer such as professional athletes to promote their products, most of the time being able to control what current fashion statements are considered popular or "in" at the moment. Fashion plays a big part of popular culture as it is something that will always play a role in society, and it is constantly evolving. By constantly evolving, and becoming "better", fashion creates a self - perpetuating reinvestment aspect within popular culture.

The Culture Industry & Fashion

Each person has their own sense of fashion. But what seems to happen is we have a handful of designers telling us what is "in" and what it "out." Fashion trends seem to be a revolving door, where the same fashion that everyone is wearing yesterday is considered ugly today, and "vintage" and popular the next day. This makes us get rid of our clothes just to have us buy the same but newly invented article of clothing years later.

If you really think about it these fashion trends and changes dictate our lives. Even at award shows where we are supposed to be talking about the artist's music or movies, the red carpet is designed specifically so they can be asked the so important question: "What are you wearing?" For the next week these outfits are plastered all over the covers of magazines and being critiqued on TV for our entertainment. We then see our everyday fashion being ripped off of the "hot list" created by these celebrities.

If you think about today's fashion trends they are really just plays on old fashion that has been tweaked to fit today's needs. The high waist swimwear and shorts all girls like to wear are really just a play back to the 50's style. The short pixie hair cut that was out of fashion for the longest time once again became popular again. Even Levi's has created a new "mom jean" fit - which is just a play off the late 80's - early 90's style of pants. With all these fashion trends going in and out we will never be able to keep up. These magazines and celebrities really dictate what we buy, and when we stop wearing it. As long as we judge people based on their looks then fashion will continue to be an investment that everyone will spend money on.

Pop Culture - Music, Fashion, and Style

Ever since I was a young child I have loved music. I remember sitting in the back seat of my parents car and listening to whatever they happened to have on the radio. I eventually started to develop my own wide-ranging taste in music, which includes Bob Dylan, U2, Tom Waits, Pavement, Pearl Jam, Florence and the Machine and even old school Bossa Nova. On of my favorites was David Bowie, who died last week, studying his career would give one a good sense of what was happening in popular culture over the last forty years as he was consistently ahead of his time. Here's a great video someone created which embodies many of David Bowies changing styles! It's also a great song.

Music is an important part of my life. It’s something I can take with me wherever I go, whether it’s to the gym, on my way to work or at home. Music can also affect a mood or create a mood. It can motivate me, calm me down after a stressful day or create whatever atmosphere your looking for. I also find it interesting how fashion is closely associated with particular music, 70s rock, 80s pop and early 90s grunge definitely conjure up specific styles. I think this course will allow me to understand how music can affect our society as well as how society can influence musical styles and movements. Today those songs that played in my parent car take me back to my childhood.