Campaign: Are brands misappropriating working class culture?

Wednesday, 15th of August 2018

According to the latest Young Blood report from brand experience agency Amplify, "at best, brands have funded and supported grass roots movements such as grime, giving urban youth a voice and outlet to express themselves. At worst, they have fetishised the working class in fashion trends such as lad-culture and workwear creating couture that is inaccessible to the very people it came from."

It’s a difficult line to tread. So, are brands guilty of misappropriating working class culture? Ben shares his thoughts.

Brands being inspired by riffing on and shamelessly exploiting working class culture is as old as the hills. For me this is more about credibility than anything else. Does that brand have the DNA to be operating in that space in the first place? Where they don’t, it feels like misappropriation. Simple.

However, this behaviour cuts both ways. For every Balenciaga fetishising high-vis, there’s a Palace making tennis dresses, but while neither brand has the DNA to be credibly creating product in either of these new spaces, high-end brands need to recognise that their aping working class culture is problematic in a way the reverse isn't – and ask themselves if the conversation it generates is worth it.

For more, read the full article online here.