Monday, September 28, 2009

Lable whores no more??

Is de-brand the new re-brand? Well the anti label movement seems to suggest it is. Lately well known brands are de-branding themselves in the hope of attracting new followers or to keep the ones they are loosing in the battle against homegrown/locally produced/socially responsible/fair trade/insert your own politically correct shopping habit here. Starbucks have gone back to their roots and opened a no-logo coffee and tea shop, "inspired by Starbucks" in Seattle (read more here) and Absolut Vodka are releasing a no-logo edition of their iconic bottle. The Absolut Vodka campaign is aimed at adressing the issues of putting lables on a person because of their sexual habits (read more here). I´m not a big fan of sexual labels myself and applaud pop singer Mika for bringing up the issue.



I myself am trying to de-brand my own life. Peeling the label of household products often reveal a cool object and makes my bathroom shelf look a lot cleaner. When shopping I actually look for products with labels  that are easy to peel off (impossible on a regular Absolut bottle. Believe me, I have tried). A company like Muji has the no logo aestethic as an important part of their design dogma and I love them for it. I also cut the labels from my clothes and it makes me feel like I own them and not the other way around, although I wonder if I would do that to a Dior jacket...

So where am I going with this? I don´t know.Maybe this guy does? I just know it´s a trend and a trend in need is a trend indeed!

And on the flipside of this trend is the opposite: Logo Overkill! I love this Lacoste shirt made entirely out of little crocodille logos by the wonderfull Fernando and Humberto Campana. Love it!

  (see more from the collection here)

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