Are you part of the ‘Now Generation’? No, probably not. In fact, I’m not really sure what that even means. Not old, probably. And the name of the company pushing this trend – Adolescent Clothing – suggests the Next Generation, surely, unless you adopt a Kid’s Rule OK (a geriatric comic book reference for you there) approach and consign anyone over sixteen to the scrap heap? It’s all very confusing, and probably why we scratch our heads at the idea of ‘street wear’ – to Reprobates, surely that is a nice shirt, fancy shoes, pleated trousers, a hat at a jaunty angle and a smart jacket? You know, the same stuff you might always wear when out in public, which is surely the only time that you’d be on the street, traversing from one appointment to another.
Those of you more down with the kids will, of course, recognise this as t-shirts – which are fine casual wear, we will concede – and hoodies, sweat pants, woolly hats, along with ‘sweat dresses’ (whatever the hell they are) – all of which are in the Adolescent range along with bags and nightwear.
This is, according to the press release, ‘lifestyle clothing’ that ‘moves organically with the times’ – which, as Bob Dylan might say, are constantly a-changin’. It’s all about finding which slogans are popular with The Kids, and then placing them on T-shirts and the like, swapping and switching as words fall in or out of favour. Sounds exhausting. And after selling across South Africa, Europe and the USA, they are coming to the UK via Next and Lipsy.
I do wonder just how original some of these ideas are – I’m fairly sure that I’ve seen similar slogans on T-shirts and so on in other retailers – but who am I to judge such things? I’m sure great things await the company until they inadvertently use a slogan that is deemed offensive and have to face the inevitable shit-storm of outrage.
