Thoughts on Sheep

[Corbin Law]

Ive seen on these boards that People who rock APC are....sheep, as in looking the same as everyone else

but how would wearing any type of dry jean make you look like a sheep?

the whole purpose of Dry Jeans is that they are unique to you, and they reflect how you treat them, not the guy next to you

when it comes to dry jeans, why does it matter which brand it is, they are all going to turn out looking completely different according to who is wearing them. and what im getting to is how does wearing a jean that is in everywhere other than cut, unique to you make you a sheep?

if you are gonna call people sheep, call the 35 year old wana be metrosexuals wearing boss shirts tucked into their huge bootcut sevens with their new shoes from "aldo".

and not APC, it isnt the brand its the jean, forreal B

so what are your thoughts on the word "sheeeeep"

chwa?

Edited by Corbin Law on Aug 20, 2005 at 09:42 AM

[djrajio]

Exactly! On the N line the other day I say this 30-ish guy sporting:

Unflattering wide legged Seven jeans

Those metro-whatever black sporty-dress shoes

The ever-ubiquitous multi-colored 70s striped shirt

A livestrong band

And an i-pod mini

If he wasn't the poster child for all sheepish hip trends, I don't know what is.

I have always been down with APC. They've been around a lot longer than this "dry denim" phenomenon. Especially when I was working Tokyo for the last couple summers, they were always down. Tokyo kids are always on top of their fashion game, especially with APC. I love how the kids that are down now just don't give a fuck about designer trends and are sporting the used clothing/mash-up look nowadays. Reasonable prices for very very VERY well made garments. Don't fuck APC, fuck the whole denim game. APC just gets thrown in the mix cuz they make good shit. When this "trend" fades, APC will still be around. Weather Seven-jean will be is another question. My rule of thumb: If its being bootlegged on e-bay, then the product has hit critical mass. Steer clear cuz the product is gonna implode.

Edited by djrajio on Aug 20, 2005 at 10:01 AM

[eastcoastrider27]

Yeah Sheep shoes were dope!

Ed Templeton yo!

NyM...

[TragicBliss]

^^ HAH!

http://www.tragicbliss.com

[tangerine]

The current craze for dry denim is indeed a trend.

My question is, what is wrong with trends? There have always been trends. There always will be trends.

People who market products identify different segments of potential consumers. I am not an expert on this but basically there are innovators, early adopters, and then one or two classes indicating how mainstream a style has become.

Lou Reed buying (or nicking) a skinny, too-small jacket from a thrift store in 1965 when he had no money was, consciously or not, an innovator.

Later generations of financially strapped but aesthetically developed kids who also went thrifting and copied this style were early adopters.

Williamsburg hipsters brought it mainstream, and now you can buy it in department stores and it is "trendy."

To return to my original statement, dry denim is, by definition, a trend. I would say it is still in the early adopter stage.

I am leaving out the fact that I and many members of my generation used to buy original Levis 501 shrink to fits, which were stiff as cardboard, and break them in unselfconsciously and much less meticulously than the dedicated denim personalizers that frequent this board. That was a trend, too.

Sheep move from one trend to another without developing a personal style. People with a sense of style may find that it intersects with trends from time to time, but they are secure in their style and don't give a rip. Trends wash over them like water over rocks.

Hmm, I must need more coffee. lol

[boystory]

i think it's a little presumptuous to call everyone here a sheep.

i would say everyone on the board has a general understanding, and the reason that people tend to bring up things like APC or whatever is to say 'hey, here's something quality, check it out.' the people who wish to check it out do, and the people who don't, don't.

i just ordered my first pair of APC the other day because people on the board went nuts over it...does that make me a sheep, or someone curious about the quality that people have brought to my attention?

and anyway, what's worse: someone who sheepishly follows trends or someone who meticulously follows trends and then works twice as hard to point out how following trends is bad?

frankly, i find people who put so much effort into what other people do incredibly annoying.

Edited by boystory on Aug 20, 2005 at 06:53 PM

[Iambic Pentameter]

the real "sheep" as you say are the ones out in the world buying whatever brand the celebrities are wearing.

Now, when it comes to people here, I believe there are a few things to consider. On one hand you have the people living in thriving urban cities, a la new york, london, LA, whatever...these are the people that have access to fringe shops that sell the really hard to find stuff, very small and/or new brands that only cater to these big city niche boutiques. They are probably the true denim innovators in that they can go to a store, try stuff on, talk with the retailers and somewhat gauge the markets & trends and what have you.

Then I think there are people like myself. I live in Detroit, a city that has a definite unique style and culture, however when it comes to buying niche premium denim, it is NOT happening here. Therefore, I find myself looking for two things; 1) information regarding brands/cuts/styles/etc. and 2) the means to obtain the items that I desire.

So I think when you look around supertalk, you may see some people like myself jumping on the "bandwagon" and buying nudies & APC or whatever, and primarily thats because there is so much high praise for these brands here, and they are accessible via online merchants. People also speak highly of other labels, but those may not be as easy to obtain for someone who doesn't live in a big city, so you don't see as much "bandwagon" action.

Just as an example, in a recent thread someone pulled out the bandwagon word because a lot of people were showing interest in Julian Reds. This to me was a direct result of people discovering that they could be ordered direct from them where as before they thought they had no access to them. Also factor in that JR's have been somewhat praised by others in the know and thus, the sudden spark in interest.

anyways thats my two cents. To summarize, the people here aren't sheep, they're MOSTLY denim heads that have found their way to a like-minded gathering place, where the general populus' current styles and trends are not very relevant. Some are here looking for info on a quality jean and obviously whichever ones have the most information available are going to be popular by virtue of that fact alone. The real sheep are the dorks that have personal shoppers shoving Sevens and True Religions down their throats.

[JohnW]

"the people here aren't sheep, they're MOSTLY denim heads that have found their way to a like-minded gathering place, where the general populus' current styles and trends are not very relevant. Some are here looking for info on a quality jean and obviously whichever ones have the most information available are going to be popular by virtue of that fact alone."

spot on - i think this is the case with most people who talk about denim here.

A lot of info about denim is quite hard to find, even a year ago there wasn't really that much info about fits in english online - I've spent ages trawling japanese and korean sites trying to find how a pair of lvc fits/shrinks etc, as there was never really a site where you could find the info out - superfutue/style-forum/mynudies do tend to help with this

the other day someone at work was talking about a salad dressing that was really nice, i liked the sound of it and went out and bought some - does that make me a sheep!?

[skecr8r]

Yes.

dress badly on purpose.

[woejozney]

There's no way we can be sheep. If you look at how many people are on this board loving on apc and dry denim, and compare it to the overall population, it's a small minority. Maybe we'd be better described as wolves, because wolves eat sheep.

Oh Gawd!

[jjs home]

I definetly think quite a few people here are sheep

just the way certain people here reacted to bathing apes popularity growth showed how sheepish they were. How do you go from proclaiming your love for a brand 3 months ago, then saying it fell off 3 months later. Thats the sheep mentality, because if you really liked it in the first place it wouldn't have fallen in to the pit of despair in 3 months. Benig a sheep isn't just following the masses, you could be sheepnig along behind innovators trying to be the first guy to say they hopped on the next bandwagon, I'd just call those people fast sheep

I feel a few people nailed it exactly, and the most truthful statement as I read, was that the true innovators have a style which is their own, and they aren't wholy changed by the effects of the next trend.

maybe I'll share more later

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[Kustim]

Shyt out here in Brooklyn, i call what y'all call sheep - "Just out kids", whateva is just out they run and cop, like jjs just said, how can u proclaim to love something but when someone in the industry or a certain crowd of people say is whack then u hate it (ex. evisu, every1 hates it now along with apes, but jumping on RMC's cause jay-z and a few others have)...i believe in rocking what u think is 80's fresh...thatz what i do...

[Francis Begbie]

I agree with JJ and if you don't, you're an idiot. There was a post the other day, "Is Evisu still loved?" for godsakes. As soon as a company gets popular, people start spotting all these flaws in quality that weren't there when they were smalltime.

[gunpwdr]

Just about everyone feels a need to classify, categorize, and/or label. Whether it's people, clothing, culture, race, etc... it's human nature to do so. What you do after you've categorized is a whole different story. Recognizing is one thing... acting on it is another. Personally I think that people that get too hung up on labels (Evisu or sheep) are lacking in confidence. Use this forum to find out where to get something you like - not whether or not what you like is cool in the eyes of your peers or not. Cool starts with yourself and you project it on others... not the other way around.

[RobbertJan]

it's all about finding your style, the stuff that you really like and you feel comfortable and condfident in, it doesn't matter if a lot of people are wearing the same stuff cause it's like a trend, as long as you hold on to it after the trends over and someting totally different is hot

one million billionth of a millisecond on a sunday morning

[neawts]

This sounds like some doomsday shit right here.

Buy what you like, know why you like it, or don't buy anything at all. Don't live to impress others.

There are some youngsters out there who have not yet found themselves. Sometimes they buy consumer goods to fit in. They'll grow out of it.

[boystory]

i like lampchops a fucking lot.

[powerglov]

neawts hit it dead on.

[poobrowne]

Word, I thought this was about sheep shoes too.

I'm sitting on some deadstock if anyone is interested, hah.

[andewhall]

I can get Sheep for a good price if anyone is interested

[corrosion o conformity]

This kind of rhetoric is for 15 year old St. Marks punks