Is Merch The New Luxury?

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Style. It’s what used to be your father’s beat-up band tees from the ’70s is now full-blown sweat sets for Dunkin’ doughnuts and coffee.

Meet the new era of luxury athleisure: fan merch. Similar to celebrity beauty and skincare lines, the new tee-shirt and sweatpants endeavors from some of our favorite stars and brands have dominated Instagram over the last year. In lockdown as many of us resigned to slouchy sets instead of structured office attire, viral hoodies became the newest it-item to have in your closet.

Established luxury houses have been adopting profitable normcore style for a while, donning their label’s signature motifs across cotton sweatshirts to lounge around in. For the stylish internet kids-turned-influencers looking to replicate that success, branded merch seems like a no-brainer. Social media personalities like Indy, known as Indy Blue, and the TikTok Hype House have expanded their businesses beyond sponsored posts, instead turning to seasonal capsule collections of tie-dyed hoodies for a massive edge. For some like Severe, merch businesses have far become their main source of communication with fans.

On the surface, it seems like everyone and their mother has a merch line nowadays. The new, consumerist wave often feels like celebrity skincare and beauty lines. A wonderful addition to our morning routine, but we have to wonder who asked for it in the first place. Whether it be pertaining to A-list stars or podcasting YouTubers, younger consumers are buying into the fad of rocking endorsed merchandise. The releases, often sold within days, if not hours are splashed across social media. What was once a cringe way to support your favorite creator is now a small, but exponentially growing sector in the athleisure and loungewear market.

Teens are now reaching for a TikTok-branded hoodie instead of a legacy house sweater. In the eyes of Gen Z, celebrity merch is more than just an outward sign to declare your undying love, it’s a status symbol.

It’s hard to deny Kanye West‘s impact on our current trends. The Yeezy mastermind was one of the first pioneers behind celebrity-backed clothing labels, blurring the line between high fashion and fandoms. With his label, West undoubtedly transforming our modern-day streetwear culture, emphasizing oversized hoodies, sweats, and comfortable fabric as the epitome of lazy-chic. His creative eye leads his album merchandise to appear like high fashion itself with color-blocked designs and colorful motifs playing on the rapper’s conceptual music. Having a famous celebrity crew doesn’t hurt either, with West’s Kids See Ghosts festival merchandise donning the likes of fashion’s It-girls like Kendall Jenner.

West even went so far as to design Yeezy-inspired political merch for his 2020 presidential run, adding to the list of clothing endeavors the country’s richest Black man has tackled onto his plate.

For some music stars, the lines between fashion line and merch operation are a bit blurry. Tyler, The Creator‘s Golf Wang, consisting of album-adjacent tee-shirts, knitted cardigans, and tailored trousers has become a main endeavor for the 30-year-old musician. The label operates with seasonal collections, releasing both video look books and physical shows in the past. In a similar vein, Justin Bieber‘s Drew House clothing line teeters the space between fashion label and fan content, giving Beliebers a stylish way to promote the Bieber stan agenda while remaining on-trend.

Some of CR‘s favorite rock stars have stayed true to the band shirt legacy, with musicians like Billie Eilish and Travis Scott thoughtfully releasing products that speak to their artistry and brand. Eilish’s fluorescent, e-girl-esque merch has become a massive hit among tweens everywhere, going so far as to make its way in chain retailer H&M. And who can forget Scott’s Astroworld Hoodie? A staple piece in the closets of socialites and sorority girls.

The Houston-born rapper’s merchandise endeavors are far more varied given his constant dabbling in other industries. Scott’s collaboration with fast food chain McDonald’s provided hype beasts with some chicken nugget-themed hoodies and happy meal purses. The food-related clothing doesn’t end there. Scott’s new spiked seltzer line, Cacti, has a full range of products for die-hard fans–or ragers, as they’re called–to buy.

The merch hype doesn’t just end with celebrities. For Instagram accounts with cult-followings, tee-shirts and sweatpants are the newest hot product. The Mayfair Group, a public relations firm gone viral for its astrology-related Instagram stories, has transitioned to operating a full-blown clothing line. With a new collection every few weeks, the firm has seen the value in comfort dressing, especially in the age of quarantine. In the same manner, Glossier’s rabid fanbase has adopted the label’s signature pink merch hoodie as a uniform.

Aside from profits, merchandise drops provide another sector for a celebrity influencer or trendy brand to dominate. Capitalizing off our current state of fashion affairs with sweatpants and tee-shirts is logical. For fans, the idea of supporting your fave is an endearing practice. Why not do it in comfort?

At this point, it’s safe to say merch is the new black. Even we’ve designed a custom shirt to show you love for our latest issue, AIR CR. As remote jobs become more common and comfort wear become an integral element to wardrobes everywhere, we’re not expecting this trend to go away anytime soon.

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createdAt:Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:43:32 +0000
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section:Fashion