Originalstreetwear

The term Streetwear is common place in today's fashion world. It is used to describe high quality clothing that draws influence from its surroundings. These influences tend to be from "the street" taking in everything that surrounds them, such as graffiti and much like graffiti sometimes express political and social issues of the here and now.

So where and when did streetwear originate? Many people speculate as to the when and how of the styles origins but it is clear that it started at the end of the 1970's and the early 1980's. It was an exciting time with the emergence of punk and what would become hip hop. Both of these musical styles embraced a do-it-yourself ethic brought about by the mainstreams refusal to except them and both styles had strong roots with in the skate and surf scenes.

Influenced by the punk and rap scene whose acts would produce their own records, mix tapes and t-shirts to sell to their fans many surfers and skaters started to follow suit. Often surfers and skaters would produce their own branded boards and t-shirts with their own unique styles. The first of these to make an impact on the scene was Shawn Stussy who placed his tag like signature on his boards and t-shirts. As his cult status as a surfer rose, so did the popularity of his boards and clothing.

Streetwear primarily started in the California surf and skate scene and was originally it was known as skatewear and surfwear depending on what particular scene the clothing came from. With the rise of Stussy others soon began to follow suit and the two styles became more closely interlinked. By the mid 80's more brands had begun to appear and become common place as they spread across the Usa. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the world caught on.

Japan was the next market to catch on to the streetwear ideal and as always they brought their own unique styles to the table. Japanese designers drew on influences from anime, toys and gadgets as well as their own style of Japanese street art. This in turn influenced streetwear as a whole and the different types of styles and designs were soon adopted worldwide.

While browsing the latest fashion related items online, I always hear people asking for a definition of the term "streetwear." After doing quite a bit of research on the subject, I couldn't find a definition that was to my liking. Since streetwear is a subject getting a lot of press lately, especially in the fashion world, I thought I'd take it upon myself to create a well-written definition of the term. Here it goes...

Streetwear is a broad category used to describe clothing which provides an alternative to more mainstream pop-culture brands that can be traditionally found in department stores, malls, and other high-volume retail environments. The streetwear movement was a direct result of the "force feeding" of brands such as Abercrombie