It's been another weird week in retail. Supreme provided a sneak peak into its most recent collection, Urban Outfitters is going fully '90s (and fully useless) with its latest offering and just when you thought denim couldn't get any worse, this designer swooped in to prove us wrong.
This, and more, in this week's retail therapy.
It's not a Supreme drop if it's not just a random collection of items
To some, Supreme is just another brand. But to its dedicated, cult-like following, it's so much more than that. And it appears the brand's fans are willing to shell out cash for anything — and we mean anything. Like the time Supreme added actual bricks to its "Fall accessories" line and they sold out within minutes. Or when people began selling copies of the New York Post issue that simply featured a Supreme logo on the front page for several times its value.
So when we saw the streetwear brand released a preview of its Spring/Summer 2019 collection, we weren't the slightest bit surprised by its ridiculousness. The collection includes everything from a complete drum set to a hipster porcelain cupid figurine to a box of Band-Aids with the classic red logo across them. Because nothing says "hypebeast" quite like a half-naked baby statue sporting a Supreme T-shirt and a headband. And while the preview doesn't include a price point for these items, judging from Supreme's past releases, it's likely to be unnecessarily overpriced.
Nothing's gone forever, especially when hipsters are involved
Urban Outfitters is the closest thing to heaven on Earth for hipsters, so when the retailer began selling VHS tapes, we can only assume cheers broke out across the nation. But for the rest of us, the move is confusing at best. Urban, whose customer base is largely made up of Gen Zers and millennials, is selling packs of the tapes for $40 (meanwhile the local thrift store is basically giving them away), and because the world is trash, people will likely shovel out the money to get their hands on them.
And the price isn't even the most absurd part of this. The retailer says that "Each one is unique," which is really just a way to mask the fact that the films you receive might not match the ones you see in the photo. So there's no way to know if the 1994 classic "Pulp Fiction" will be included in the pack or if it's instead filled with less-than-stellar works like "Super Mario Bros." (if that title doesn't ring a bell, you're not alone).
But the retailer did manage to bring vinyl back into our lives when it began selling records years ago. And since, Ikea has announced it's developing its own vinyl player in collaboration with Teenage Engineering.
Maybe it's worth hanging onto that box of dusty VHS tapes in your basement after all.
Designers continue to try to fix something that's not broken
As legacy denim brand Levi's, who just last week filed for an IPO, can likely attest to: nothing compares to a classic. However, that doesn't stop countless brands from trying their hand at revolutionizing denim. From jeans with fake mud on them to jeans with clear panels, the world has seen its fair share of denim nightmares. And it doesn't appear the fashion industry is ready to wake up yet.
Ok. I don’t understand fashion. https://t.co/4LAtap8gDY
— Willy Poh (@clovistwilly) February 18, 2019
This week's culprit? These "two-tone reconstructed denim jeans" by Y/Project. The jeans are essentially a pair of black pants with what can only be described as denim underwear layered over top. And to top it off, the pants are currently being sold on online luxury platform Farfetch for a cool $510. While this style doesn't go quite as far as the brand's detachable denim jeans, it's not a far jump.
We can only hope for less denim travesties in the future. *sigh*
Y/Project is keeping things weird.https://t.co/KkOkj2cvhX
— Marcelo Blacio (@marceloblacio1) February 18, 2019
The resurgence of the flip phone
Samsung this week unveiled its newest phone in the Galaxy collection, the Galaxy Fold. But this isn't the flip phone many of us carried around in the pre-smartphone era. The phone can transform from a handheld phone to a tablet-sized device with a, well, fold.
But what's the most mind-blowing part about this device? The price.
The phone starts at a whopping $1,980, according to The Verge. During a time when global smartphone sales are down, and the demand for lower priced phones remains strong, the move is a curveball, to say the least.
Admittedly, the phone itself is pretty cool and innovative to say the least. But will it be enough to convince consumers to fork over the price of an old car? Only time will tell.
