Heritage clothing. You know what I mean—browsing the forums, it is omnipresent. Workwear (Japanese included), Americana, anything ACL champions, Levis, Filson, Alden, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Are these just part of a trend, or a change in the institution of fashion?
Biographic digression: I spent my late teens with a great interest in fashion. It was an escape from the singular ideology and dress code of my small hometown. With college came greater intellectual expansion and a growing distrust of the industry of fashion. I realized that fashion, like many other consumer products, was fueled by a need to promote seasonal trends, increase consumption, drive up profits, and in turn be more wasteful.
Over the past few years, I have been observing the rise of heritage clothing companies. Suddenly fashion had won me over again. I saw fashion companies that cared about what they were making (or in many cases—have been caring for decades, some nearly centuries). They were making products that conformed only to standards of quality, not seasonal trends.
Is heritage clothing going to be displaced by another trend approaching on the horizon, or will quality prevail?
