The Culture of the Line
How Fandom drives consumerism, community and commerce.
“The street don’t like pedestrians, that’s why they made sidewalks” This quote from Cookie’s character on the show Empire (2015–2020) fits street culture’s gatekeeping as a concept perfectly. The street has always been dubious of this idea of “pedestrians”. Cookie was the original “Mob Wife” before it became a TikTok fashion trend. Streetwear is a community predominately made up of young men and the women that hang out with them. There are still very few women that own brands or have relevance in this space. Street culture, which has also been called “Streetwear”, started as a subculture and those in the culture, myself included, really wanted to keep it that way.
It was a place for creators, artists, musicians, DJs and designers, a place that welcomed contributors, not consumers. It was a private little club or tribe, this changed with magazines and then social media driving accessibility. Gen Z and Millennials wanted a piece of this culture, they wanted to be cool, to dress like their favorite athlete or rapper and so fandom evolved which led to more tribalism that scaled globally.
The “Culture of the Line” developed in the late 90's. Originally started in Tokyo with the advent of the UraHara fashion movement and drop culture, customers started lining up for the drop and the community experience of the line exploded. Sharing an image of the iconic Goro necklace which always has a line for their handmade, luxury jewelry.
The line became a way to democratize the drop and drive fandom, often more important for community than actually obtaining the product. This was the streetwear tailgating experience.
You know the energy you feel when you go to a football game. The outfits, the fandom, the tribalism, the chanting. Well you see that in Gaming Culture at Esport events, Sneaker conventions, Complexcon, and Music Festivals. That tribalism became part of the cultural makeup and experience that young people craved. That energy has been a big part of sneaker and street culture for a long time. You know those kids that wait in line outside Supreme and Bape waiting for the drop on Thursday? They are there for the Culture of the Line, hoping to maybe grab some product as well. They might not get the limited edition product, but they get the experience of hanging out with all the other kids waiting for it and that is fun, fabulous and free. The experience is priceless.
Young fans that are pros at this are what i like to call “Drop Lordz”. Drop Lordz are quasi influencers that buy the product at retail, wear it, post it on Instagram and sell it for a profit afterwards. Some of them are so savvy that they pay someone else to wait for them and buy it, a shopping or line assistant if you will.
This idea of obtaining cool shit first hand has coined the phrase “I got it retail” which means they got it before it sold out. They didn’t have to go the secondary market, to places like Stadium Goods, Stock X or ebay. Sometimes these pseudo influencers are screaming this on their TikTok or youtube channels.
Getting the product at retail was a huge feat for many of these young fans. They were pedestrians in the culture, but they were at the top of the pedestrian food chain. One step up from that would be they received the product through “seeding” which is gifting by the designer or brand. This is also seen as a major big deal for kids or anyone for that matter in the culture. Even influential figures will post the capsule or seeding gift right away to show they have clout in the industry. I still have rappers call me today to say, can i get that? I remember a funny story at Converse when we were seeding the first Off White Chuck Taylor around 2018 which was part of “The 10” a highly collectible story that Virgil Abloh invented designing ten pairs of Nike (Converse is owned by Nike).
We had waves of the seeding to insure that the coolest folks got it first and were able to post it, then we sent to tier 2 influencers and tier 3 before it came to market. Sort of an A- list celebrity and down hierarchy. There was literally a whole seeding strategy behind it, identifying the relevant folks and when they would receive it. If someone didn’t get theirs in a timely manner, there were calls to the company, like “Yo, where is my pair?” People came out of the woodwork to demand a pair. Needless to say there were a lot of egos to manage in the process.
Seeding is an essential part of Culture Marketing and highly effective to drive fandom. It also helps to have celebrities and influencers wearing the product before it comes to market to “pre-heat” the market demand and drive fans within their communities. As long as cool stories attached to influence come to market in an authentic and interesting way young folks will line up and be fans. They want the experience of the line, to be part of something bigger. Even if they can’t get the product, the community is there and that always will be priceless.
