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> An orange notebook, filled with intricate time lines for “The Peripheral,” was decorated with a sticker bearing the logo of the niche techwear brand Outlier—a
by pclark 7y ago
> An orange notebook, filled with intricate time lines for “The Peripheral,” was decorated with a sticker bearing the logo of the niche techwear brand Outlier—a black swan.
Outlier makes amazing clothing: https://outlier.nyc https://outlier.nyc
- metalgearsolid 7y agoGo figure his fashion sense was ahead of the time. He is wearing Acronym in the article's photo, which if you ask me, is the most compelling fashion brand on the entire planet.
- elvinyung 7y agoRemember all that stuff about the Cayce Pollard Units :P
- vadansky 7y agoI always liked Acronym from a design perspective, but $2,000 for a basic jacket? Seems to me like minimalist street wear should be affordable by design.
- pclark 7y agoi wouldn't call it basic - the materials and fixings are very very very expensive, and the actual patterns of the clothes are ungodly complex. cobrax buttons are ~$5 each for example.
- KozmoNau7 7y agoHaving watched a bunch of videos about their clothes out of curiosity, I have to say they do seem to make use of decent-quality materials, with the caveat that Gore-Tex never lasts as long as it's supposed to, and it's completely impossible to repair once it starts delaminating. As for the cut and features, yeah they have a few cute tricks and features, but nothing to justify the hype and pricing.
- omnimus 7y agoYou have to understand that our perception of fashion pricing is completely skewed by fast fashion. It is payed by slave labour and extremely poluting processes. The 2000$ jacket is not wierd. The 50$ is. I am not saying Acronym is super ecological or ethical (i dont know them). But with that pricetag there is atleast a chance. There is so much suffering behind new cheap clothes it is scary.
- paxys 7y agoThey are both weird IMO. Well-made, ethically-sourced jackets with high quality materials can be bought for like $200-$500. I understand the branding, exclusivity etc. that $2000 will buy, but saying that jackets need to cost that much isn't accurate.
- omnimus 7y agoYou are right. Especialy if you are buying classic styles where there is no need for research/development than you can find quality + ethics + reasonable price (100s usd range).
- KozmoNau7 7y agoClassic Australian-style oilskin jackets and dusters can be had for under $300 for a really nice model, or under $150 for an ordinary one, made in Australia from high-quality 10-12oz oilskin fabric. The fabric and design with a rain-shedding cape have proven themselves over generations of people making their living outdoors. It will be heavier than a modern Gore-Tex design, and perhaps not quite as breathable. On the other hand it won't delaminate after a couple of years and become useless for bad weather, which happens to all Gore-Tex jackets I've owned, even nice rainjackets from Helly-Hansen and similar brands. You can repair and re-impregnate oilskin/oilcloth/waxed cotton with new wax yourself, and keep it for decades. If I was going on a serious trekking/hiking/mountaineering trip, yes I would buy the modern lightweight technical clothing. But for use in ordinary rain and snow and everyday life, I'll stick with the oilskin coat and hat.
- bart_spoon 7y ago
- shantly 7y agoJesus. You can get a bespoke suit made by OECD-state labor and with decent materials for less than it'd cost to put together a jacket + trousers combo from Acronym. Granted, yes, you could also spend way more than that if you want a particular, famous tailor shop to make it, but still.
- rebuilder 7y agoYou can, but Acronym don't sell bespoke suits. Those are relatively well understood in terms of design, while a lot of the Acronym stuff looks like it would have required quite a bit of RnD. Factor in a very niche target market, plus that the price is probably more of a selling point than a downside in that segment, and I guess you get that kind of pricing. I'm certainly not buying myself, but I also don't think they're just selling regular clothes at a spectacular markup. Whether their garments are any good, I have no idea.
- blacksmith_tb 7y agoWell, it's sort of a truism that you pay more for less when it comes to fashion (and minimalism of other kinds, too...) But I'm glad Gibson can afford Acronym (and/or his connections are enough to swing him a free coat as an 'influencer'). Probably no single author has had such an impact on me, in hindsight.
- omnimus 7y agoIt is a bit of a dystopian wet dream styling. No wonder the guy behind it helped doing fashion for Death Stranding. I personaly think high tech fashion looks already a bit outdated but i would surely love to have some Acronym stuff. Unfortunately its way off my price range.
- 0xffff2 7y agoAt $198 for a button-up short, I sure hope it's amazing.
- pclark 7y agoactually quite affordable considering it's merino. not comparable to regular cotton shirts.
- 0xffff2 7y agoMaybe it's affordable for merino, but I disagree that it's not comparable to regular cotton shirts. A shirt is a shirt.
- omnimus 7y agoI posted it elswhere. Cheap clothes are travesty payed by unhuman labour and environment. Most stuff should cost 10x more. Probably 30x if you want to make it last long and be ethical. (we you should)
- 0xffff2 7y agoHow do you arrive at those numbers? If clothes cost 10x what they do today but fabric costs didn't change, I'd most certainly be sewing nearly all my own clothes. Give that I'm a software engineer in the bay area, this strongly suggests to me that 10x is too high.
- jacobush 7y agoFabric is also way too cheap. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dyeing-textile-sector-water-risks-adidas https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dyeing-text...
- omnimus 7y agoI closely know people working for some high end brands. It is common knowledge. A dirty secret. The worst part is most of them dont give a fuck. Its just money grabbing. Unfortunately you also have no chance of knowing if your 1500usd hoodie was made well or by kid payed 12usd week. Its hard to expect other outcome since many brands are regular startups with investors. There are few monopoly megacorps like LVMH and Kering that act much like Facebooks and Googles and just squeeze anything for their investors and demolish/buy competition.
- CamperBob2 7y agoThose photos look like a promising direction for GAN researchers to explore. No need to hire any models or photogs. Just order your parameterized virtual hipsters from the Cloud, like angels on demand.
- gautamcgoel 7y ago$395 for a hoodie?? I quite like my made-in-America hoodie from American Giant, which retails for $108. What extra value would I get if I shelled out an additional $287 for the Outlier hoodie?
- aaron695 7y agoArt. If you get into the whole don't use resources, paying money for products that have a lot of artistic thought put into them makes sense. Artistic thought uses nothing from the planet, the person has to eat anyway. I personally have no issue with using resources, but if someone else wants to spend it on art, cool, I still get to view it.
- pratyushc 7y agoIf it's made with proper merino wool then that would explain the price. I've bought merino jumpers in that price range before, and they're well worth it since they're warm but also light-weight.
- ralphc 7y agoCheck out the prices on Arc’teryx Veilance, also mentioned in the article. $2299 for a hoodie.
- gautamcgoel 7y agoInsanity, sheer insanity.
- bart_spoon 7y agoIt's techwear. Outlandish prices are practically part of the aesthetic.