Materialism in Hypebeast Culture — The COMM (2024)

FAQs

What is the hypebeast culture? ›

Hypebeast culture, a contemporary youth culture focused on clothing styles. Hypebeast (company), catering to hypebeast culture.

Our core motivation is to inspire, innovate, and drive culture forward. Hypebeast Ltd. stands at the forefront of fashion and culture through education and connecting a global audience.

If you haven't yet heard of the hypebeast phenomenon, you are not alone. This niche subculture, often in fashion but also several other areas of retail, is all about exclusivity. A hypebeast, over time, has come to mean many different things from a popular blogging website to a group of culture influencers.

In 2005, sneaker enthusiast and college student Kevin Ma created a website to document his fashion interests. He chose to call it Hypebeast after the slang term for a trend-chaser.

A hypebeast is someone who gets sucked in and absorbed with all the latest drops from streetwear brands - often paying big money to get hold of the latest gear. The other defining feature of a hypebeast is that they love their brands – and most importantly the logo on their clothes - to be seen.

Biography. Kevin Ma founded Hypebeast in 2005. The platform amassed more than 46 million page views a month in the fiscal year of 2015. Hypebeast was originally founded as a sneaker centred passion project, Ma told Kitsuné, “The content has definitely changed from being sneaker centric to more fashion geared.

When used as a derogatory term, hypebeast implies that such people are attempting to hide their character flaws by purchasing expensive and exclusive clothing and accessories. For example: Ali: These sneakers were $500. Pretty cool, eh?

Hypebeast Ltd. operates as an investment holding company, which engages in the provision of digital content and website advertisem*nt spaces, and operation of online store.

Audience composition can reveal a site's current market share across various audiences. hypebeast.com's audience is 64.19% male and 35.81% female. The largest age group of visitors are 25 - 34 year olds (Desktop).

There are numerous groups of people that could be classified as subcultures, for example: hippies, antigun groups, high school jocks, environmental activists, people in the furry community, people in the cosplay community;,punks, goths, and many more (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017, 292).

What subculture is streetwear? ›

Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding and Japanese street fashion. Eventually haute couture became an influence.

Streetwear as we know it today originated in the '90s, in the hip-hop scenes of New York, the surf-skate and graffiti culture of Los Angeles, and within the nightlife of Japan. James Jebbia has said that his influence as a designer “was definitely the young skaters in New York.

Streetwear developed in the 1980s and 1990s, when New York City's hip-hop scene, as well as skate and surf subcultures' obsession with stickers and logos, birthed brands focused heavily on eye-catching designs and iconography. Streetwear's early pioneers were often members of New York's rap scene.

hypebeast (plural hypebeasts) (neologism, slang) A person obsessed about acquiring fashionable items, especially clothing and shoes.

Established by young friends Liam Green and Bav Samani in 2011, after winning a T-shirt design competition, Hype started life as a grassroots local label sold solely via social media.

Human Made. HBX - Globally Curated Fashion and Lifestyle by Hypebeast.

Highsnobiety is a global fashion and lifestyle media brand founded in 2005 by David Fischer. It was bought by German e-commerce giant Zalando in 2022.

Why are Hypebeast brands so expensive? ›

When a company is around for a long enough time and they make good products, people start buying more from them. When a larger demand of the product rises, the prices go up causing inflated prices. Another reason Hypebeast companies charge so much money for their clothing is because they are endorsed by celebrities.

Each month, over 9 million visitors log on to view the latest in men's fashion, art, design and music. Offering exclusive and effective positioning in addition to traditional placements and a chance to be part of the most authentic representation of today's outlook on lifestyle.

Streetwear takes inspiration from both hip-hop culture and skater style, with the added element of intentional product scarcity. Followers of the latest trends in streetwear are known as hypebeasts, and many go to great lengths to procure limited-edition designer baseball caps, hoodies, sneakers, and more.

Your target audience refers to the specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see your ad campaigns. Target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests or a myriad of other factors.

The largest age group of visitors are 18 - 24 year olds (Desktop).

Gen Z subcultures

The subcultures in this category are streetwear gamers and gamer girls – think a mishmash of MTV, esports, fashion and music cultures, whereas the gamer girls are fueled by inclusion and lifestyle. The groups have a median age between 20 and 21.

African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans are the three most important ethnic/racial subcultures in the United States.

Subcultures include groups that have cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society. Cloward and Ohlin argued that there are three different types of deviant subcultures that young people might enter into: criminal subcultures, conflict subcultures and retreatist subcultures.

Goth is a music-based subculture, not fashion-based as many outsiders believe. It all started with the song “Bela Lugosi's Dead,” released in 1979 by Bauhaus. This song would define the genre of post-punk, which, as the name implies, rose from the ashes of the dying punk scene in the UK.

As well as making reading cool among a young audience, the TikTok subculture has also been described as one of the most wholesome parts of the internet, creating a safe place for users to enjoy shared interests without judgment.

What subculture is rap? ›

The hip hop subculture can be characterized by people who love rap and truly identify with the message of racial struggles and poverty that is conveyed through hip hop music. The subculture's four defining activities are disc-jockeying, breakdancing, graffiti art, and rapping.

The fashion industry defines streetwear as fashionable, casual clothing worn by followers of popular culture. The majority of these followers are under 30, live in urban areas, and belong to a subculture group (ex. skateboarders or hip-hop music fans).

Gen Z is redefining what we classify as Y2K fashion. We're all familiar with the sassy graphic T-shirts, double denim, sparkles galore, and lowrise jeans that define the early 2000s. But now, young people are expanding the definition of Y2K style to encompass relics from other eras.

A combination of hip-hop, punk, and rap subcultures, streetwear was built on the foundation of combatting the 1950-60s status-quo of white, American standards of “proper citizenry”, offering a means for Black youth to showcase a culture involving music, art, and fashion.

Hypebeast generally refers to a person who is devoted to acquiring fashionable items, especially clothing and shoes.

hypebeast (plural hypebeasts) (neologism, slang) A person obsessed about acquiring fashionable items, especially clothing and shoes.

Hipsters like what others haven't discovered yet, while hypebeasts only like something if everyone is talking about it.

Instead, according to Urban Dictionary, a hypebeast "is a kid who collects clothing, shoes, and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing others." In other words, someone who wants to be a hypebeast is someone who wants to be a social climber or trend-follower.

Hypebeast-ism today centers significantly around celebrities and their “off-duty” daily attire: all it takes for an item's value to skyrocket on an online resale marketplace is for a celebrity like Kanye West or Beyoncé to be photographed wearing it.

What are hype drugs? ›

slang : a narcotics addict. slang : hypodermic.

A "sneakerhead" is a shoe enthusiast that not only collects shoes, but is very knowledgeable about the history of the sneaker and its meaning. A “hypebeast” is something of an insult, referring to a person who only buys shoes that are popular and cool.