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Should I or shouldn't I buy... (clothing item)?

troika

Coco the Monkey
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I'm not sure what one thing has to do with the other. Polo might have a long history, but you're still a walking advertisement when you wear a shirt with the little logo on it. I suppose that's also true of sports logos, but sports logos can also indicate where the person is from, and depending on where you wear it, can be seen as a provocation.

Can you elaborate a bit more? I'm not sure I'm understanding.
 

Timbaland

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That YM Bape guy is a punk and a bully, watching the video was infuriating. Why care so much about what other people wear? If he did that to me I would have fought him, though I probably would've gotten ****** kicked because it looks like he's with 2 other guys.
 

Patek

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Can you elaborate a bit more? I'm not sure I'm understanding.

Put it this way, people put their teams on bumper stickers and license plates. You are part of a fraternity and part of a club, if this is a professional sports team or a college team. This translates into real clubs that you can pay membership fees for, and figurative clubs that can help with employment etc.

I have never seen bumper stickers or custom license plates for Nike vs. Adidas. It is just not the same thing. I have never gone to an interview and had a 15 minute conversation about my Edward Green shoes that I was wearing but I have had that conversation about my alma mater and related sports teams.

Brand logos to me, are just a way of signaling how you like to spend your money. The brands that don't have a in-your-face logo, are a way of signaling how you like to spend your money to those "in the know". Sports teams are very different as they say where you came from or where you whent to school (with the exception of the previously mentioned Yankee cap etc).
 

hoodog

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If it helps to know, he became a semi-beloved figure in the Supreme community because of his internet fame. Then he fought Racks, got arrested, and the last year got shot.

Hope that makes the story more uplifting.

On the contrary, it makes me even more sad and gives me a shot of existentialist angst. Today's zeitgeist... :confused:
 

oulipien

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Put it this way, people put their teams on bumper stickers and license plates. You are part of a fraternity and part of a club, if this is a professional sports team or a college team. This translates into real clubs that you can pay membership fees for, and figurative clubs that can help with employment etc.

You can just wear a hat for a sports team or something and strangers will be able to have small talk with you about that sports team that you both understand.
 

GoldenTribe

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I had a Green Bay Packers beanie when I was in high school. I don't like or watch football at all, and at least a couple of times, random people in public tried to bond with me over my hat -- which tended to make me nervous because I didn't know anything about the team and couldn't name a single player.
 

Patek

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This sounds more terrifying than getting beat up

She is not terrified just confused when they throw out the school catch phrase or give her a nod. Her school was much "fancier" than mine so I would be a poser if I wore her stuff.
 

Kal Varnsen

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Can you elaborate a bit more? I'm not sure I'm understanding.

I'll give you an example.

In 2000, both the New York Yankees and New York Mets met in the World Series. A reporter from some newspaper wanted to see how New Yorkers felt about both teams, despite the fact they play in the same city. At one point he decided to wear a Mets jersey in the Bronx. He was then approached by some men telling him he wasn't allowed to walk through their neighborhood wearing that jersey, as it was a "Yankees neighborhood".

Obviously, that's an extreme example, but that just shows you how extreme fan bases can be about their team. I don't think there's a brand equivalent, though. There might be Adidas trolling Nike fans, but I can't imagine there would ever be someone in Air Force 1's spotting someone in Stan Smiths, and flipping them off while saying "Nike, mother ******!"

Here's another funny example. Sometimes the jerseys switch depending on who shares the photo.

Leafs-Class_Picture(small)_2.jpg


I don't think this would work with Lacoste, or Pepsi.
 

Kal Varnsen

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I had a Green Bay Packers beanie when I was in high school. I don't like or watch football at all, and at least a couple of times, random people in public tried to bond with me over my hat -- which tended to make me nervous because I didn't know anything about the team and couldn't name a single player.

Back in the 90's I'd often wear hats of teams I didn't really support, one of which was the Raiders. Black Raiders hats were cool at the time, but I did find myself in a position where I had to name any two players on the team, which I was luckily able to do (Bo Jackson being one of them).
 

dieworkwear

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I'll give you an example.

In 2000, both the New York Yankees and New York Mets met in the World Series. A reporter from some newspaper wanted to see how New Yorkers felt about both teams, despite the fact they play in the same city. At one point he decided to wear a Mets jersey in the Bronx. He was then approached by some men telling him he wasn't allowed to walk through their neighborhood wearing that jersey, as it was a "Yankees neighborhood".

Obviously, that's an extreme example, but that just shows you how extreme fan bases can be about their team. I don't think there's a brand equivalent, though. There might be Adidas trolling Nike fans, but I can't imagine there would ever be someone in Air Force 1's spotting someone in Stan Smiths, and flipping them off while saying "Nike, mother ******!"

Here's another funny example. Sometimes the jerseys switch depending on who shares the photo.

Leafs-Class_Picture(small)_2.jpg


I don't think this would work with Lacoste, or Pepsi.

I feel like hats play a secondary role to the effects you're talking about. People don't become enthralled with a team or part of a tribe just because they wear the hat. Some people wear the hat because they're passionate about a team.

As is, some people more closely identify with a brand than a sports team (e.g., Polo, Supreme, Timbs, Doc Martens, etc). They may have different social dynamics. Not everyone is going to put stickers on a car or get into a fight over a brand.

But brands are also part of real subcultural groups, and deeply tied to identity. I don't think it's true that brands don't represent anyone but themselves. Brands can also have strong ties to social identity.

I have a baseball cap with my alma mater. I would be more excited to talk to someone about rare Polo than I would be talking about my university. I like my alma mater, but don't feel any special bond with people who happened to have gone to the same school.
 

oulipien

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But brands are also part of real subcultural groups, and deeply tied to identity. I don't think it's true that brands don't represent anyone but themselves. Brands can also have strong ties to social identity.

But not ties, I think, that you can in general express *by wearing the brand*. There are obviously exceptions (steel-toed Docs with white ladder lacing, or whatever) but someone wearing a baseball or football team's gear will be taken as thereby expressing their fandom of the team, even if they aren't fans. And that general social background means that you can express that aspect of your social identity by wearing them.

In contrast, "guy who likes talking about rare Polo" not only is not a social identity you can express by wearing rare Polo or anything else, it is arguably not a social identity at all.
 

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