Joshua Kissi from Street Etiquette put me up on this video, while having a discussion on what people from the “hood” used to wear back in the 90′s: Nautica, Polo, Perry Ellis, Timberland, Eddie Bauer and Tommy Hilfiger. I remember Wallabee’s and when Helly Hanson came on the scene, which seemed to be short lived. I can’t help but to think that the executives of Ralph Lauren, as well as the other mentioned brands, had to know about the subcultures created buy their brands. It’s pretty much their job to know these things, yet it is something that is almost never mentioned or acknowledged. Aside from Tommy Hilfiger, is seems that brands felt and still feel that embracing this particular demographic (inner city or urban youth) would diminish the prestige of their brand image. This isn’t a totally false concept, as Tommy Hilfiger had to revamp their brand image in the new millenium to pull themselves away from being considered a fad brand of pop culture’s urban scene. This video is about a whole underground culture that was built around the Polo brand, which is refered to as ‘Lo’ throughout the video. It’s very interesting and thought provoking to know that a brand that doesn’t acknowledge your existence can become your existence.
Check out the story here.
This was a interesting video, i posted about it awhile ago but I’m still waiting for the full documentary to release. And I wonder If Ralph Lauren knew about the Lo Lifes? Nice post though.