What’s in the “urban” branding?

Ever wondered what it is about a supposed “urban” brand that makes it what it is – urban?

It’s probably fair to say that urban clothing is considered designer-wear, designed by artists more than entrepreneurs with money in mind. Designers are more often than not influenced by street art, urban music and the like, and this penetrates through in their urban clothing designs. I would guess that not all art work is originally intended to go on designer t-shirts when it’s being produced, but if it has that original spark of imagination and is designed well enough to be transposed onto a piece of material, then surey there’s nothing stopping it!

What makes urban clothing unique is that the designs are usually extrovert, often groundbreaking but always wearable. This makes them hugely marketable pieces with a tonne of street credibility that appeal to a very specific market, and this is not necessarily mainstream.

But when does a label move away from specficially urban, to more general? Well, in my opinion, when the garment design rotates more around the brand than it does the artistic nature of the design. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but brands like Drunknmunky are a good example of this. Many of their designs are brand-based pieces, giving them an recognisable, yet disinctly non-urban feel. Instead, Drunknmunky pride themselves on being original and breaking. Thankfully they have an great identity to profess this with, as their logo is f**king awesome – but it’s not urban.

So a message to all the smaller, independently run urban labels out there – keep doing what you’re doing. Keep up with those original, vibrant designs because we love them!