D2C eg direct to consumer. These are places that are usually started by mates screenprinting a logo onto cheap dropshipped hoodies and jorts. Via some mystical alchemy of teen mob mentality they become in-demand. They then set up a system where a factory in China makes the clothes and ships them directly to shoppers, bypassing shops or even warehouses.
Corteiz is one:
https://corteizsuk.com
Unknown is another:
https://unknownlondon.com
These guys have been profiled in Vogue. They have tens of millions in turnover. There is a narrative about "the creator economy" that kind of chimes with YouTubers eg people working outside the system, cutting out all the middlemen, doing it for themselves, that is very appealing.. so why is it that I have mixed feelings about this stuff? On an aesthetic level I think most of it is extremely ugly. But apart from that, from what I can tell it is very little more than just continuing to screenprint/stencil cheap clothes
but kids are CRAZY for this stuff
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 27 August 2024 17:40 (two weeks ago) link