Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Okay, so I'm not feeling very creative and articulate today, so I'm posting a letter my girlfriend sent to the editor of The Exponent (Purdue's student newspaper) last year. She actually wrote much more than this article, but was limited to 300 words or something like that. Check it out.Imagine you’re visiting California, but when you get there, you notice everybody is wearing t-shirts with logos from the Midwest. You might see several Harry's Chocolate Shop t-shirts, or maybe a shirt that says something goofy like "See More in Seymour, IN," or "Lafayette is for Lovers," or "Bowling in South Bend." You would probably wonder at first if your Midwestern kinsmen had joined you on the west coast. But no, they bought their T-shirts at the local mall. In fact, the hot co-ed wearing the "bowling" shirt has never even been to a bowling alley! That is what it's like for a Californian to see all these Midwesterners wearing Hollister "surf" gear.
According to an article on TrendCentral.com, the Hollister Co. clothing store was established when the clever marketing execs at Abercrombie & Fitch noticed that the smaller sizes of printed logo t-Shirts were selling out. (This explains why Hollister sell tons of t-shirts that look like they came from a California thrift store, and everything is a size too small.) Hollister Co. is NOT a legit surf shop, but a way for A&F to line their pockets with naive young Midwesterner’s cash. Young Midwesterners who’ve possibly never seen an ocean, let alone surfed, can make believe that they are one of the characters on The OC. The smart marketers at A&F recognized that the “California surfer lifestyle” is glorified in the media, and brilliantly found a use for a surfboard in the land-locked Midwest – as a moneymaking accessory.
If you like the clothes at Hollister, fine. You look trendy and cool to the majority of people that you will meet at Purdue. Just keep in mind that you look absolutely ridiculous to anyone who surfs or has ever lived on the West Coast.
In case you were wondering, there is a town named Hollister in California. It is approximately 15 miles (as the crow flies) from the beach and a 24.0 mile drive to the nearest surf shop.
If you want to wear genuine surf apparel, I recommend checking out these brands: Becker, Quicksilver, O'neill, Billabong, Roxy, RipCurl, etc.
People who wear pants are poseurs.
Imagine you went to Pantsburg, Germany and found yourself surrounded by a bunch of yuppies with eyes. You might think to yourself, “Hey! These people have eyes! Perhaps they know my friends at home who also have eyes!” Then you find out that they just ripped it off. This is what you look like when you wear pants outside of Pantsburg. Pants are only appropriate within the strict confines of that proud villa over the pond.
And, seriously… don’t you hate pants?
As soon as I saw the word "pants" I was like, oh man I'm going to comment "Hey Krusty, don't you hate pants?" But then you said it, so I decided not to. But then I did it anyway.
Nips, I can't decide if you are mocking my girlfriend or simply coming with an elaborate story to allow you to say, "Don't you hate pants?"
That stuff was cool when I was in high school. I just HAD to have Roxy flip-flops. Because we can wear them year-round in Texas.
Yes, this is one more way to stick it to those above the Mason-Dixon line.
i hate pants too. also, abercrombie scares me with their loud music and $75 tore up jeans. :(
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