What is the definition of Streetwear? Logos, lettering, hoodies, printed shirts, baseball caps and sneakers: what we call casual urban street fashion today has its origins in America. The term first appeared in 1976 in the name of the then hip skateboard company Vision Street Wear. Since then, a Fashion trend from it: streetwear. To date, this has been distributed in different directions, so that a uniform definition is hardly possible any more.
Strictly speaking, streetwear is in the Fashion world exclusively for urban casual clothing of the younger generation and in the beginning it was only worn by skaters, sprayers, but also rappers and clubbers - i.e. all subcultures of urban youth. Depending on the scene, certain brands played a major role. Today streetwear is synonymous with skatewear, clubwear, urban clothing and street styles.
Copyright by Balenciaga
With the increasing spread of the high fashion industry and the blogger scene, streetwear has become a mass product and thus part of the sustainability problem - with which the fashion industry is currently struggling. The special report of the online magazine Highsnobiety: Streetware has a sustainability problem, makes clear where the problems of sustainable street fashion lie and shows three basic solutions.
Streetwear - From the niche to the identity expression of an entire generation
The numbers according to Highsnobiety speak for themselves: the value of the exclusive streetwear brand Supreme is estimated at over $ 1 billion, almost 25 billion pairs of sneakers are produced annually, and streetwear brands produce up to 350 different articles per year. With this mass, streetwear can no longer be classified as a niche from which it originally came. Luxury and fast fashion brands pounced on the easily producible, high-margin items with the aim of finding appeal with the young generation. With success. The increasing demand meant that quantity came before quality.
The business model has turned streetwear into a quickly consumable fashion. And this consumption cycle is intensively promoted by advertising and new collections, which puts pressure on consumers. On the other hand, there are high-priced articles, mainly sneakers, that become veritable collector's items. Most of them are limited editions of well-known stars, which are bought by so-called “sneakerheads”. A cult that makes streetwear fashion an identity-creating subject.
Sustainable street fashion - what are the problems?
Countercultural standpoints are the roots of streetwear. Sociopolitical messages marked their values as well as their structure. Think of Stüssy, who represents surfers and skaters, or Jordan Brand's influence on low-income communities. Social affiliation is associated with streetwear, but environmentally conscious production and design are not part of this long history. Ethical or sustainable basic ideas have not had a direct influence on street culture either.
A challenge for many brands, especially at a time when sustainability is the central issue and problem for many corporations. So what can streetwear brands do to create both short and long-term change when it comes to the impact on the environment and people? By and large, a new language needs to be found in order to pick up consumers.
This is what the industry needs for sneaker heads, according to the Highsnobiety Report
1) Good design and responsible implementation
Great design must prevail, coupled with new materials, recycling options, resource conservation and / or humane conditions in production. The French sneaker brand Veja, for example, uses organic cotton and wild rubber soles from the Amazon region and sells almost two million pairs of sneakers each year.
The soles of the popular VaporMax 270 and 720 models by Nike are made from more than 70 percent recycled materials. British designer Christopher Raeburn also found new ways of turning unconventional fabrics into new fashion items. He works on the concept of "Remade, Reduced, Recycled". His streetwear consists of recycled materials that are inherently stable, which noticeably extends their lifespan in terms of sustainability.
2) Create new values
The fashion market is basically geared towards growth. In addition to “buy less” calls, brands can also build up a new overall ethos that goes beyond the pure product through knowledge, access, belonging and experience. For example, you can let the customer look behind the scenes: transparency in the value chain signals openness. Loyalty to a sustainable brand in turn promotes a different set of values, which usually lasts long-term and can also encourage rethinking.
3) Cooperation and continuous development
Structural changes take time. Therefore, small steps lead to success: from recycled labels to the first capsule collections. Every measure comes closer to sustainability. Cooperations can also do a lot to achieve more. Experience and individual knowledge can thus be transformed into applicable, institutional knowledge that is accessible to a large number of actors.
Copyright by Nike, AIR JORDAN VI TRAVIS SCOTT
Sneak preview: street fashion trends
"33% of Gen Z men and 26% of Gen Z women consider themselves sneakerheads". With this in mind, StockX became one of the top 10 favorite high-income Gen Z men's websites. With its study StockX Snapshot: The State of Resale, the online marketplace for streetwear offers a good overview of trends, what has been selling well and will remain popular this year, including new developments.
- Last year they belonged to Artist Merch Products to the fastest growing segment of the StockX streetwear marketplace. Here, as more and more artists bring out limited capsule collections to commemorate their albums and tours, it is to be expected that demand will continue to grow.
- The artist merchandise from Travis Scott made 10 of the 100 best streetwear items released last year. These include Travis Scott's blockbuster collaborations which helped Jordan Brand rank # 1 on the StockX sneaker rankings. StockX also expects its upcoming projects with Nike to cement its dominance in the secondary market.
- Exclusive sneaker news for women has almost doubled its share of the secondary market. As brands intensify their efforts to address this demographic change, the popularity of Women's sneakers will rise. Also because the number of women who identify as "sneakerheads" continues to grow.
- Auch smaller brands, such as New Balance, to major players in the resale market. It should be another big year for these brands too.
- This hype goes into the next round: Luxury luggage and men's bags. The collaboration with Supreme x Rimowa and Virgil Abloh Prism Keepall proved that men are increasingly interested in these product categories.
