Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[dieworkwear]

This is only tangentially related to fashion, but still somewhat related given all the news about Nike. Jacob Grumbach and Paul Pierson put out an interesting paper today on the political preferences of corporations. Lots of news lately about whether fashion companies -- and companies in general -- are becoming political (e.g., Nike, Levi's, New Balance, etc). Grumbach and Pierson's study shows some interesting, higher-level analysis that goes beyond whether this is being driven by consumers or corporate execs.

Link to paper here.

 

[LA Guy]

This is only tangentially related to fashion, but still somewhat related given all the news about Nike. Jacob Grumbach and Paul Pierson put out an interesting paper today on the political preferences of corporations. Lots of news lately about whether fashion companies -- and companies in general -- are becoming political (e.g., Nike, Levi's, New Balance, etc). Grumbach and Pierson's study shows some interesting, higher-level analysis that goes beyond whether this is being driven by consumers or corporate execs.

Link to paper here.

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[dieworkwear]

404 Error?

Whoops, don't know what happened. Anyway, it's here under the title "Are Large Corporations Politically Moderate?"

Jake Grumbach - Working Papers

“The Insulation of Local Governance from Black Electoral Power: Northern Cities and the Great Migration” with Rob Mickey and Dan Ziblatt. Why has America’s democratization remained incomplete? Democratic institutions in the U.S. are highly decentralized, and lower level governments have the

sites.google.com

The TL;DR: Corporate PACs are largely bipartisan (no surprise). But there's more money being spent in "hidden" channels (e.g., to Chamber of Commerce), which leans Republican. So whatever anyone thinks of the target market (e.g., Nike consumers leaning lib or whatever) or the preferences of the corporate execs (e.g., Tim Cook supporting DACA), corporations still favor pro-business institutions, which lean Republican. And since the Republican Party comes as a package, that also means supporting conservative social policy.

The Nike x Colin Kaep thing, while still important, is probably overshadowed by this effect.

 

[LA Guy]

Whoops, don't know what happened. Anyway, it's here under the title "Are Large Corporations Politically Moderate?"

Jake Grumbach - Working Papers

“The Insulation of Local Governance from Black Electoral Power: Northern Cities and the Great Migration” with Rob Mickey and Dan Ziblatt. Why has America’s democratization remained incomplete? Democratic institutions in the U.S. are highly decentralized, and lower level governments have the

sites.google.com

The TL;DR: Corporate PACs are largely bipartisan (no surprise). But there's more money being spent in "hidden" channels (e.g., to Chamber of Commerce), which leans Republican. So whatever anyone thinks of the target market (e.g., Nike consumers leaning lib or whatever) or the preferences of the corporate execs (e.g., Tim Cook supporting DACA), corporations still favor pro-business institutions, which lean Republican. And since the Republican Party comes as a package, that also means supporting conservative social policy.

The Nike x Colin Kaep thing, while still important, is probably overshadowed by this effect.

Good synopsis, but honestly, nothing that is at all surprising or that a right thinking person couldn't figure out in no time flat.

It seems to me that for most companies, it makes no sense to come out on any side of a social policy, especially in the present, charged environment. For the vast majority of corporations, supporting a pro-business agenda and keeping away from any opinion on social issues is probably the smart play. This is probably especially true for fashion companies. I would expect that within the top quintile, and maybe the higher end of the second quintile, of earners, where their consumers are, that the split in political inclinations is fairly even.

 

[dieworkwear]

Good synopsis, but honestly, nothing that is at all surprising or that a right thinking person couldn't figure out in no time flat.

It seems to me that for most companies, it makes no sense to come out on any side of a social policy, especially in the present, charged environment. For the vast majority of corporations, supporting a pro-business agenda and keeping away from any opinion on social issues is probably the smart play. This is probably especially true for fashion companies. I would expect that within the top quintile, and maybe the higher end of the second quintile, of earners, where their consumers are, that the split in political inclinations is fairly even.

I don't know if the answer is that obvious without the dataset they pulled. For one, the Democratic party is basically corporatist at this point anyway. But this convo came up earlier in this thread (if not, another thread) and no one, at least I can remember, brought up this point of backchannel contributions.

For the kind of clothing we talk about on this forum, I also assume most consumers are liberal. They tend to be younger than 60 years old, have a college degree, and live in a cosmopolitan city. That's a very Dem leaning demographic. But the important thing in this study is to show that, regardless of the demo or corporate exec preferences, corporations are still leaning Repub.

 

[LA Guy]

Whoops, don't know what happened. Anyway, it's here under the title "Are Large Corporations Politically Moderate?"

Jake Grumbach - Working Papers

“The Insulation of Local Governance from Black Electoral Power: Northern Cities and the Great Migration” with Rob Mickey and Dan Ziblatt. Why has America’s democratization remained incomplete? Democratic institutions in the U.S. are highly decentralized, and lower level governments have the

sites.google.com

The TL;DR: Corporate PACs are largely bipartisan (no surprise). But there's more money being spent in "hidden" channels (e.g., to Chamber of Commerce), which leans Republican. So whatever anyone thinks of the target market (e.g., Nike consumers leaning lib or whatever) or the preferences of the corporate execs (e.g., Tim Cook supporting DACA), corporations still favor pro-business institutions, which lean Republican. And since the Republican Party comes as a package, that also means supporting conservative social policy.

The Nike x Colin Kaep thing, while still important, is probably overshadowed by this effect.

Just to further expand on what I wrote before, this excerpt seems to be a bit off base to me:

"Large American corporations are often portrayed as politically moderate. In common
depictions, major firms and their allies in the “establishment” battle liberal Democrats on taxes
and many regulatory matters, and conservative Republicans on issues like the Ex-Im Bank, debt
ceiling negotiations, infrastructure spending, trade, immigration, and LGBT rights."

Why would a corporation in their right mind and without some vested interest (say, the farm lobby and immigration) battle for say, LGBT rights. There seems to be very little gain, and a considerable amount ot loose, from opening your mouth at all on that issue.

 

[dieworkwear]

Just to further expand on what I wrote before, this excerpt seems to be a bit off base to me:

"Large American corporations are often portrayed as politically moderate. In common
depictions, major firms and their allies in the “establishment” battle liberal Democrats on taxes
and many regulatory matters, and conservative Republicans on issues like the Ex-Im Bank, debt
ceiling negotiations, infrastructure spending, trade, immigration, and LGBT rights."

Why would a corporation in their right mind and without some vested interest (say, the farm lobby and immigration) battle for say, LGBT rights. There seems to be very little gain, and a considerable amount ot loose, from opening your mouth at all on that issue.

I mean, did you see the fashion campaigns during Pride month? It was nuts.

 

[LA Guy]

For the kind of clothing we talk about on this forum, I also assume most consumers are liberal. They tend to be younger than 60 years old, have a college degree, and live in a cosmopolitan city. That's a very Dem leaning demographic. But the important thing in this study is to show that, regardless of the demo or corporate exec preferences, corporations are still leaning Repub.

I think that the part that I bolded is only partly correct. I think that maybe it's age and education are perhaps somewhat inaccurate proxies for political leanings. I imagine that while this is generally correct, that those in specific, high earning, sectors, like financial industries and law, might lean the other way.

Workers in these sectors are also in the minority, even though they have disproportionately high revenue and spending power, and there is nothing to be gained by them openly airing their conservative political views, and a lot to lose.

Can't think of why anyone would disagree with the last statement.

 

[LA Guy]

I mean, did you see the fashion campaigns during Pride month? It was nuts.

Yes, I saw them, but they were also very targeted to very specific audiences. I think that it's somewhat naive to think that corporations, in general, care much about social issues, other than how they can use them to appeal to specific segments.

 

[London]

Nike has been riding with Kap. Their equality campaign from a few years ago preceded the evolved partnership that they signed with him.

 

[London]

As someone who works closely with corporations as a consultant, I can say corporations are becoming more so-called 'political.' They need to recruit younger audiences who are more liberal and demand these brands and corps take a stance on social, sexual, ecological and political issues.

 

[happyriverz]

I think that the part that I bolded is only partly correct. I think that maybe it's age and education are perhaps somewhat inaccurate proxies for political leanings. I imagine that while this is generally correct, that those in specific, high earning, sectors, like financial industries and law, might lean the other way.

Workers in these sectors are also in the minority, even though they have disproportionately high revenue and spending power, and there is nothing to be gained by them openly airing their conservative political views, and a lot to lose.

Can't think of why anyone would disagree with the last statement.

As my income as increased (as a lawyer), I have steadily become more left-leaning, probably because of liberal guilt as I'm copping current season Rick Owens while there are people who need to work 3 jobs just to pay rent.

 

[LA Guy]

As someone who works closely with corporations as a consultant, I can say corporations are becoming more so-called 'political.' They need to recruit younger audiences who are more liberal and demand these brands and corps take a stance on social, sexual, ecological and political issues.

Hmmm... is this the consumer audience, or the employees?

Anyway, I understand your point, but as I remarked above, it's hard to see it as anything other than a calculated move to appeal to a lucrative demographic segment than out of any actual political conviction.

 

[Bromley]

I was in the NYC Barneys years ago with friends on the first floor women's side (jewelry, hats, etc.) and we spotted Bruce Springsteen shopping with a lady. He was wearing black jeans and some especially distinct kind of biker boots. It was cool to see him.

A few more minutes of browsing. Then I found myself in need of a sit-down restroom, so I headed to the nearest mens room-- up the escalator on the second floor. There are 2 stalls. One of them is a total nightmare situation-- the whole space a brown Jackson Pollack painting. Soupy water right up the rim. Naturally I took a seat in the clean, neighboring stall.

A few moments later, someone enters the restroom in a hurry and I hear him walk right to the open door of the disaster stall next to me. He goes, "fuuuuuck", and then tries the handle on my stall. And my friends, I recognized those boots and jeans. It was the Boss. I realized it was him and kind of panicked, so I didn't say anything. He tried the handle a couple more times, made an annoyed sound, and then went into the stall next to me. I got out of there quick.

I got back downstairs to my friends and they said, "Bruce went up right after you. Did you see him?" and I said, "Yeah, kind of".

These were college times, and I couldn't afford anything there, but I always enjoyed browsing at Barneys.

 

[LA Guy]

As my income as increased (as a lawyer), I have steadily become more left-leaning, probably because of liberal guilt as I'm copping current season Rick Owens while there are people who need to work 3 jobs just to pay rent.

The guys (and women) I know who are becoming more conservative are in three groups: 1) Financial industry, 2) Small to medium sized business owners/managers. I guess that it's hard siding with a party whose star new members think that you are evil. 3) Some academics who used to be probably labelled "right-centrists". Often socially conservative and fiscally liberal (or sometimes vice versa.) This last group seems mostly reactionary, and they are nearly all closeted because it would suck to lose your job because you said something out of line.