Nowadays, whenever you read an article about fashion, streetwear is always mentioned. It used to represent a fairly niche market, but now everyone seems to want streetwear clothing and footwear in their wardrobe. The style has its roots in the last part of the 20th century and it developed on the two coasts of the United States of America. In fact, streetwear mixes elements of New York’s hip hop culture and California’s surf and skate culture. In its first stages, streetwear was an identity symbol that had a deep cultural meaning for those who adopted that kind of style. Things have changed over time and it has currently become pretty mainstream. It is still associated with music and sports, but more and more people wear streetwear for purely fashion reasons.
A reliable online retailer to keep in mind if you want to purchase ad hoc streetwear is Foot Locker. Shoes are their main domain and this spring they have launched a new campaign aimed at celebrating street art and tattoo art across Europe. Freedom and creativity are the core values that want to inspire the youth generation. The store is certainly specialised in sneakers, but they also sell tracksuits and hoodies that belong to the streetwear world. It is cool, because with the brilliant Footlocker discount code here you can up style your game and save a good deal of money.
Streetwear is generally distinguished by relaxed silhouettes (oversize is the way to go about it!), very few embellishments and an overall sophisticated feel. Sneaker culture is a fundamental piece of streetwear, but track pants, bomber jackets and hoodies tend to be just as important. It’s all about finding the right combination between street and sportswear. However, it is important to remark that streetwear is different from athleisure, because the former is about making a statement in what you wear, whereas the latter is more about wearing fashionable and comfy sports clothes.
Streetwear’s momentum has grown over the years. This is even more clear if we think that celebrities have taken up this kind of style. Glamorous outfits aren’t the rule any longer and you can often see pictures of popular people wearing casual clothing. From this point of view, musicians have the most credibility: think of pop singer Rihanna or of world-famous rapper and record producer Kanye West. Whether they want it or not, celebrities’ actions and habits are constantly monitored and they end up setting fashion trends. Social media’s massive influence can’t be underestimated either.
Big brands have also figured out the huge market potential of streetwear. A few years ago, luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton started a partnership with Supreme, a New York-based skateboarding lifestyle brand. Furthermore, in 2018 Louis Vuitton appointed Virgil Abloh as artistic director of its menswear collection. Abloh is best known for having founded the streetwear brand Off-White. Another relevant example is the collaboration between Nike and Dior, which in 2020 brought to the release of the unique Air Dior Capsule Collection. A joint effort between a haute couture brand and a basketball sneaker symbol is indeed remarkable. It is telling of streetwear’s status in fashion.
Statistics show that street style clothing is worn mainly by customers that are under 25. This means that streetwear could shape the future styles in fashion, at least until something new crops up. In order to understand the impact that streetwear can have in the apparel market, it is very interesting to read the report prepared by Strategy&, a strategy consultancy business that is part of the PwC network. It states that streetwear’s market share is estimated to be about 10% of the global clothing and footwear industry. It is worth 185 billion dollars by sales.