After the dust had settled in streetwear following the whole limited edition game plan to selling product, I wonder how many people are still captivated by small runs of products. Perhaps the true “Hypebeasts” may pay great attention to the sentence of “limited to ## worldwide…” but for those around long enough who have seen brands grow, exclusivity for me anyways is no longer a marker of a brand’s level of respecability and certainly not its success. The minute you go back and start increasing quantities of product, you’re often deemed as “selling out”. Yet, fashion in itself is communication of both literal and abstract forms. Although probably not always directly communicated, going out and having your message heard should be a central theme to most brands. In small product runs, this notion is largely paradoxical. You want people to see and hear what you have to say yet you’re scope is so narrow and virtually unseen assuming it truly is of a limited stature. It’s like people that created products to raise money for Japan, yet ensured that it was known it was LIMITED. Yes I of course get it, creating a desirable brand requires manipulating supply in the demand such as the 70% under supplying of demand by high-fashion houses. But I find much more interest in those who can grow as big as possible while still being viewed as respectable and for lack of a better word, “cool”.

Most people come to a point in their lives where they realize changing priorities necessitate a different economic standard. Being 35 and selling 50 T-shirts surely won’t pay the bills or feed very many extra mouths. But the ability to grow your brand to a level of taking care of others (via being on your payroll) and having your message seen on a ubiquitous level, now that is worth embracing and much more difficult in my eyes. Markets these days are massive these days and moving small numbers (small numbers due to budgetary constraints are of course a different story) is in some ways easier than it’s ever been. The fine line of ubiquity and brand perception should become the measuring stick to success.

-Eugene