What's behind the urban explosion?

Bobbin, Sept, 1998 by Lisa C. Rabon

The explosion of urban-inspired street wear is a perfect example. In the past few years, it has become much more than kids wearing pants that are three sizes too big. It's now a vast arena of design entrepreneurs, most operating in an entirely different world than traditional manufacturers or marketers. This world serves up small orders for specialty shops and thrives on fast-moving trends. (Some celebrity is photographed donning a new logo, and voila, instant craze.) Nevertheless, most designers on the urban scene start out with small change, big ambitions and no business background.

For those more traditional apparel firms and contractors ready to loosen their waistbands, there are significant opportunities in this environment - beyond the promotion of sagging seat seams that boost the amount of yardage in each garment. For example, when Bobbin contributing editor Jules Abend decided to tackle the market in this month's trend analysis, "Hip-Hop Revolution Now Evolution," page 16, he found that the business of hip-hop garb has no deficiency in the area of smart creative talent, but a real need for manufacturing prowess and business know-how. As a result, the partnership opportunities are plentiful for companies willing to initiate work on a small scale. Those willing to take the plunge may yield the next Dazo Anderson or Marc Echo, both of whom have entered the department store mainstream and now buck up with the big boys. (There's much more on this in Abend's timely report.)

The story was the same at the most recent MAGIC show, where the street wear collections packed in throngs of people. In my opinion, the energy and business networking in this nucleus of heavy hitting, music-oriented apparel lines were unmatched by other categories. The neighboring aisles looked like the streets of a ghost town in comparison. Within the street wear mecca, there were startups such as Conscious Gear roaming the show for business contacts, as well as recent sensations such as Pelle Pelle making big splashes with hip upscale booths. The companies were small, large, known, unknown and on the way, but they all had one thing in common: the buzz of business. And let's face it, somebody out there is cashing in on the manufacturing end of the picture.

Is it a fad that won't last? I doubt it. Need more proof? Consider the refocus of the NAMSB Show. This month's Industry Watch, page 12, reports that the National Association of Men's Sportswear Buyers (NAMSB) has replaced its 50-year-old trade show with the VIBE Style show through an arrangement with VIBE/SPIN Ventures. The new emphasis of the show will be to present a full spectrum of street wear from hip-hop to alternative lifestyle.

I'm not saying turn over your khaki lines to produce skateboarding bellbottoms, but you may want to keep a close eye on the importance of the urban currents and how they are shifting the undertow of the apparel industry. Chances are that if you're not in touch with the edges of the apparel universe, you may miss out on unique opportunities in your own backyard.