Product-Based Trends are Good(?)
Ha ha just kidding... unless?
Before you rip my head off for titling this week’s newsletter the way I did, please know that it’s 100% clip bait… or is it? Product-based trends have always existed. You always hear stories of kids from the 90s wanting THE shoes that everyone else has (I wouldn’t know cause I’m technically a gen-Z kid. Old people seething rn); however, since the terminally online year of 2020, product-based trends are cycling quicker, and are more widespread like a pandemic.
First, we need a definition for what a product-based trend is (ok, from now I’m going to refer to them as PBTs because writing that over and over again is getting monotonous). A PBT is where everyone wants to wear or is already wearing the SAME product, whether it’s shoes, pants, outerwear, etc. It’s important to understand that I’m not talking about the people wearing the same brand but literally the same product.
In recent times, there are many that come to mind, but it would be a cardinal sin not to mention the chokehold that is the Adidas Samba. You also have other dominating garms like the Arc’teryx BETA LT and Birkenstock Boston. There are many more, but I’m a man of little time so I can only touch on a few.
:
The shoe that won the Throwing Fits Fitties Award’s top shoe of the year not once, but twice! The Wales Bonner Samba came in first in both ’22 & ’23, quickly followed by the general release Samba coming second in ’22 & ‘23 (I’m sorry I have no way of showing you proof unless you’re subbed to their Patreon ~lol~). The Samba domination grew around early/mid-2021 with the proper jawnz enthusiasts. However, it quickly reached the Nike-Dunk-wearing civilians in 2022 and continued its domination through 2023 (Even Australians are killing the Samba as we speak).
I would be lying to say that I did not participate in this trend thanks to the red Wales Bonner shoe that dropped in the middle of ’22 and then the vegan pair later in the year (but that shoe turned me off the Samba because they broke in less than a month; however, I can’t be too mad at the shoe because the vegan pair got me reposted by Hidden.ny (@jeodoretoel for epic content btw).
Now, I do not blame the dominance that is the Adidas Samba. It’s a shoe that is easily accessible, cheap, and, well, it does look good… but I do blame the bozo civilians who are tryna pass it off as if they’re avant-garde.
Arc’teryx BETA LT
:
This jacket is the one that essentially ushered in the dawn of gorpcore as mainstream. A trend that was popularised in 2020 thanks to the help of Virgil Abloh’s Off-White f/w 2020 line by repurposing Arc’teryx shell jackets at Paris Fashion Week – significant to note that the model he used WAS NOT the BETA LT, but looks to be the Alpha or Alpha SV (I’m more than happy to be corrected on that). And Frank Ocean looking cute in Arc’trizzy
Then came the rise of Arc’teryx and, more specifically, the BETA LT jacket. The reason why I think this became the jacket of choice was because it was the cheapest shell jacket with the logo and title embroidered on the chest (still retails at $700 AUD, might I add, so it’s definitely not easily accessible). Pretty quickly, you would see this jacket popping up on every. Single. Mood board, archival page, fit pic reposting page and so on. THEN, it became more extreme. People went from wearing the outdoor jacket to hiking pants and boots - gorp-core. As time has passed, the gorp-core sensation has slowed down (but it is definitely coming back in a big way, and you should have a read on GORP2.0 if you haven’t already).
Birkenstock Bostons:
If you were to ask Mariano for his opinion on the Birkenstock Boston, he would probably laugh in your face, but if you were to ask me, I would say they are borderline the most incredible piece of footwear of all time; however, this shoe 100% became a PBT.
This one was a little harder to gauge when it exactly became so popular. I say this because in the months of December/January of ‘22/’23, everyone in Australia wanted the Birkie Bostons in taupe suede, but cool bros in the US were wearing them WELL before that (but me being the cool guy that I am, already had 2 pairs of Bostons… yes I pride myself on copping well before the sheeple).
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. From my extensive research (two minutes of googling), it seems as though notable celebrity (and not me), Kendall Jenner, was captured wearing these in 2021; however, if I’m being honest, I think the fashion zeitgeist managed to boost this shoe to the superpower that it was all on its own. Once again this mule was plastered on mood boards, and archival pages, and was consistently pushed by the popular IG page, @muleboyz.
AND?
So why am I touching on this? What makes PBTs so important that I feel the need to yap on about them for the last 837 words (to be exact)? I’m yapping about them because I believe they can help one improve their own personal style.
Speaking from experience (I own/ed all three of the garments previously mentioned), PBTs have helped me grow an interest in different styles to help build a Frankenstein’s monster of personal style – saying that makes it sound like a bad thing, but trust me bro I look fkn fire 365 days of the year. Not only that, these PBTs have helped me be fit for purpose — meaning, I’ve learned to wear jawnz that suit my needs.
Like many individuals, the BETA LT has helped me grow an interest in outdoor apparel, which then has been beneficial as I used them for their functional purpose – I used my BETA for countless outdoor walks and my most recent ski trip (I know that they’re not intended for skiing, but it was great to use and makes me want to buy cop a Sabre in the near future). The Samba domination helped me understand that Adidas is back to making good footwear – but I am definitely a Spezial-bro and anyone who thinks otherwise has a style palette like a 5-year-old at a restaurant (chicken nuggies and chips please).
Now, I’m not telling you to follow these trends, but I’m not going to tell you to completely avoid them either. Sometimes they’re beneficial for the development of your own style – sometimes in a regretful way (I’m not gonna show my whole ass and share my A$AP Rocky x Guess tee era just yet). They have helped me, and now I’m in a place in my personal style journey where I am comfortable to try new things on my own accord, or at least, know where I sit within the spectrum that is style.