WHAT IS THE HYPEBEAST MOVEMENT?
Emmanuel Iheke
Aug. 1st, 2018
What is the hypebeast movement? To some it’s a fashion movement, where brands that are (1)owned and designed by well-known creatives, (2)expensive, and/or (3)uniquely stylish, have become hot items. These clothes and accessories are not advertised to the public in formal commercials like GAP and Wrangler. They are advertised through celebrity endorsements that build hype around a product. These brands include all the traditional designer brands like Gucci and Fendi. However, it goes further to include brands that most hip hop rappers and urban culture endorse such as Supreme, Comme Des Garcon, and OFF-WHITE.
Some people emphasize the movement’s collaboration with the music industry and go as far to say the Hypebeast movement is a cultural one. It is a generational trend. We at Un-Associated believe it is both of these things. However, more importantly, we believe it is a consumer trend.
Let us take a look at what it is we see nowadays in the movement. We see musicians and celebrities wearing all types of designer clothing on the runways, and this is nothing new. We see a lot of these people bragging about what it is they are wearing in their songs, and this is nothing new. We also see that we, consumers, start to want what these people have because what they wear becomes a unit of measurement. What does it measure? Wealth, worth and taste. This is also nothing new.
The new thing I want to bring to light is how the drivers of this movement exploit the consumers with this logic. Designers and manufacturers have realized that it is not about quality as much as it is about the marketing behind what they are selling. Let us take Supreme for example. Supreme is well known for their “rapper endorsements”. If you would like to find Supreme clothing for retail price, it would be a very tedious task, as items have been recorded to sell out in less than 40 seconds.
Is this because Supreme has the best quality t-shirts known to man and everyone wants them for their rare super duper cotton from the planet Mars? Of course not. Quality is obsolete. Supreme knows all they need to do is market their product the right way, and they do so by building enough hype around the item in order to get us consumers to think the item is greater than what it really is. The Supreme logo has accumulated so much hype that it transformed a $500 Coleman mini bike to a $1,000 Coleman mini bike.
The Hypebeast movement is built off of just that…hype. It is a consumer trend characterized by the consumer’s’ indifference towards quality and falling victim – yes, victim – to brand marketing tactics.
Think we’re lying? Comment away. Just remember that Champion USED to be sold at Walmart.