I was a brand rebel and there were enough others to make a small rival gang against the cool kids. It was 7th grade and it was Izod shirts and Members Only jackets. My parents were depression era and didn't have time for this. Never got the jacket - I thought they looked stupid then, still do. Epaulets!? My uncle bought me an Izod polo shirt and I liked the fit so I tore the crocodile off and that gave me some rebel cred.
Don’t you throw shade at Members only jackets! 😆 I still miss mine. One of the trends on my middle school years I never understood was everyone’s infatuation with swatch watches and their stupid rubber band thingies.
You are so right about that time being a mix of parents who lived through a completely different set of economic experiences. This caused a lot of disparity within just my friend group in the late 70s through 80s.
In 7th grade I found a like tribe, but it was a crap school so my parents used my grandmas address to get me in the wealthier school across town. I was screwed socially but I started learning some stuff. I've often wondered what kind of hooligan I'd have been if they'd left me be to make my way in the hood.
I can totally see it being used as comic relief in a horror flick or a character-establishing scene in another type of film.
For what it's worth, I remain completely brand-agnostic to this day. My ranking order in almost any purchase is something like this:
1. Function
2. Feature set
3. Value for money
4. Design/look
5. Brand
I think it goes back to the frugality mindset we've discussed a few times before in these comment threads. I just can't ever justify paying for the brand name alone if there's no associated improvement to function/features/etc.
It's likely a rite of passage for most kids. (I can already feel some of that subtle pressure in my kids' school.) I think I somehow managed to mostly dodge it in my life though, as I distinctly remember not ever feeling forced to go for brand-stuff or left out if I didn't. Perhaps I got lucky.
I felt angry at myself for falling into the trap when I started to kind of snap out of it. of course, I still had to face that same world where people would decide how to treat you based on what you were wearing... but there was a degree of power in flipping that script around. I wore clothes to be provocative now, not to pass a threshold of coolness or belonging or whatever.
When I was in second grade, Adidas sneakers were what the cool kids had. I wasn't cool, and my sneakers were Cal-Pros, from the local discount chain Caldor. Even worse, they were boys' Cal-Pros.
One day afterschool at my Brownie troop meeting, the meanest of the cool girls told me that due to my failure to wear Adidas, not only was she not going to be my friend, but that she would see to it that NO ONE would be my friend. We were standing on the stage in the "cafetorium" at the time, and I was extremely annoyed that she was making such a big deal out of my sneakers - so I shoved her away from me. Except...I was freakishly strong, and my shove knocked her off her feet and directly into the giant metal coatrack thing, the sort that had metal hangers attached to it, that for some reason was on the stage. Mean girl and the coatrack full of coats went right off the side in an immense clatter, and I remember her laying there tangled in all the winter coats with a shocked look on her face.
The troop leader called my mom and it was agreed that perhaps I wasn't a good fit for Troop 365. I didn't care, as far as I was concerned, Brownies had been a bait and switch anyway - the handbook made it sound like we'd be blazing trails, building campfires and learning survival skills, but all we ever did was make stupid craft projects. I never did get a pair of Adidas, either; my parents had grown up during the Depression and the idea of spending hard-earned money on brand-name shoes for a seven year old was absurd to them.
Great share. You seem to have experienced this social pressure much earlier than I did. I think I took a long time to grow up in some ways, and that social awareness is one of them. If I was bullied for my clothing prior to age 10 or so, I don't remember it... but also, I don't remember lots of things.
I was in Cub Scouts! I remember carving soap and stuff like that. I certainly did not learn to survive in the outdoors. .
It may have been a girl thing. In my own experience, and also in my observations of my own three daughters when they were that age, seven- and eight-year old girls can be brutal. That is the age when girls go from being friends with pretty much everyone in their class to suddenly forming cliques and being absolutely awful to anyone outside of their group. I was a sort of weird, awkward girl so the social dynamics were all quite baffling to me; it took me years to figure it out!
I don't remember any other sneaker-related trauma from elementary school; but I do remember in junior high it was ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to wear Nike Cortez sneakers, ideally the leather version, although the nylon ones would do if one's parents were frugal-minded. By then, I guess I had learned to toe the line, so to speak - but I did assert my individuality in that I got the Cortez with the blue stripe instead of the more socially-acceptable red stripe.
My brother had been a Cub Scout, so I knew they got to go on overnight camping trips. Ironically, I think that was why he quit Scouts; he wasn't a fan of sleeping in a tent and getting poison ivy!
Ha! I do remember us sleeping outside once, and my cot got wet. Maybe that's why I quit, too.
I think we are onto something with girls forming cliques earlier than boys. In many notable ways, the girls in class were more calm and pseudo-professional than the boys, so maybe that's the same sort of phenomenon happening.
I swam with the school for a few years there, probably mostly from 6th through 10th grade. It was the most conforming I've ever done in my life, by far, and it was exhausting. At the same time, I never dared to let my guard down during that phase.
I think I might have had a wilder experience if I had made it to Boy Scouts, but on the other hand, Cub Scouts was plenty to let me know I wasn't much of an outdoor type person... at least when it comes to sleeping!
-Nike/Reebok in middle school; I was half Athletix and half Reebok
-I chased trends during the first couple years of high school, but then started deliberately making fun of trends by junior and senior years with my own clothing choices, beginning to exclude myself and getting weird looks for the first time on purpose
-thrift store clothing for my 20s, plus whatever punk leftovers I had. I think I wore my leather jacket until like 23 or 24
When I started working at adidas after college, I told people I’d been wearing the brand since elementary school when I played soccer on the Mighty Mites. My next trip home, I pulled out the photo of me as proof. And discovered I had four stripes on my shoes… Not three it was a mind shattering moment of realization—I was not nearly as cool as I’d always thought I was.
Luckily, I’d moved by then so my high school classmates and adidas coworkers took me at my word. I buried the photographic evidence for decades, bringing it to the light of day recently.
On the one hand, I'm stunned that human beings can avoid falling into this trap. It felt inescapable. But on the other hand, I've learned so much about how personality matters a ton, and this is just such a perfect example of how this can happen.
I look back on having my own budget (at least for trivial things) as a really important step. Other kids didn't have this, but I think it was a huge service.
Oh good! Help me remember what I played. I'm guessing this was 1982 or thereabouts. I watched some video on Intellivision and can see that the graphics were awesome for the time.
I was a brand rebel and there were enough others to make a small rival gang against the cool kids. It was 7th grade and it was Izod shirts and Members Only jackets. My parents were depression era and didn't have time for this. Never got the jacket - I thought they looked stupid then, still do. Epaulets!? My uncle bought me an Izod polo shirt and I liked the fit so I tore the crocodile off and that gave me some rebel cred.
Don’t you throw shade at Members only jackets! 😆 I still miss mine. One of the trends on my middle school years I never understood was everyone’s infatuation with swatch watches and their stupid rubber band thingies.
I was just thinking about how amazing Swatch watches were yesterday! We watched some nostalgia video, and those things were really slick!
You are so right about that time being a mix of parents who lived through a completely different set of economic experiences. This caused a lot of disparity within just my friend group in the late 70s through 80s.
In 7th grade I found a like tribe, but it was a crap school so my parents used my grandmas address to get me in the wealthier school across town. I was screwed socially but I started learning some stuff. I've often wondered what kind of hooligan I'd have been if they'd left me be to make my way in the hood.
So true. You have to wonder. Environment means so very much. I'm retiring from teaching this year and have seen it personally.
I'm married to a retired teacher but she's hooked on that teacher fix of kids and chaos so subs a bit so she can complain about it!
Ha! Both of my parents are retired teachers, both still living.
Ha, that line's straight out of a movie.
I can totally see it being used as comic relief in a horror flick or a character-establishing scene in another type of film.
For what it's worth, I remain completely brand-agnostic to this day. My ranking order in almost any purchase is something like this:
1. Function
2. Feature set
3. Value for money
4. Design/look
5. Brand
I think it goes back to the frugality mindset we've discussed a few times before in these comment threads. I just can't ever justify paying for the brand name alone if there's no associated improvement to function/features/etc.
This five year period for me was weird. It was like I went to a church where we worshipped brands. Very strange!
It's likely a rite of passage for most kids. (I can already feel some of that subtle pressure in my kids' school.) I think I somehow managed to mostly dodge it in my life though, as I distinctly remember not ever feeling forced to go for brand-stuff or left out if I didn't. Perhaps I got lucky.
I felt angry at myself for falling into the trap when I started to kind of snap out of it. of course, I still had to face that same world where people would decide how to treat you based on what you were wearing... but there was a degree of power in flipping that script around. I wore clothes to be provocative now, not to pass a threshold of coolness or belonging or whatever.
When I was in second grade, Adidas sneakers were what the cool kids had. I wasn't cool, and my sneakers were Cal-Pros, from the local discount chain Caldor. Even worse, they were boys' Cal-Pros.
One day afterschool at my Brownie troop meeting, the meanest of the cool girls told me that due to my failure to wear Adidas, not only was she not going to be my friend, but that she would see to it that NO ONE would be my friend. We were standing on the stage in the "cafetorium" at the time, and I was extremely annoyed that she was making such a big deal out of my sneakers - so I shoved her away from me. Except...I was freakishly strong, and my shove knocked her off her feet and directly into the giant metal coatrack thing, the sort that had metal hangers attached to it, that for some reason was on the stage. Mean girl and the coatrack full of coats went right off the side in an immense clatter, and I remember her laying there tangled in all the winter coats with a shocked look on her face.
The troop leader called my mom and it was agreed that perhaps I wasn't a good fit for Troop 365. I didn't care, as far as I was concerned, Brownies had been a bait and switch anyway - the handbook made it sound like we'd be blazing trails, building campfires and learning survival skills, but all we ever did was make stupid craft projects. I never did get a pair of Adidas, either; my parents had grown up during the Depression and the idea of spending hard-earned money on brand-name shoes for a seven year old was absurd to them.
Great share. You seem to have experienced this social pressure much earlier than I did. I think I took a long time to grow up in some ways, and that social awareness is one of them. If I was bullied for my clothing prior to age 10 or so, I don't remember it... but also, I don't remember lots of things.
I was in Cub Scouts! I remember carving soap and stuff like that. I certainly did not learn to survive in the outdoors. .
It may have been a girl thing. In my own experience, and also in my observations of my own three daughters when they were that age, seven- and eight-year old girls can be brutal. That is the age when girls go from being friends with pretty much everyone in their class to suddenly forming cliques and being absolutely awful to anyone outside of their group. I was a sort of weird, awkward girl so the social dynamics were all quite baffling to me; it took me years to figure it out!
I don't remember any other sneaker-related trauma from elementary school; but I do remember in junior high it was ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to wear Nike Cortez sneakers, ideally the leather version, although the nylon ones would do if one's parents were frugal-minded. By then, I guess I had learned to toe the line, so to speak - but I did assert my individuality in that I got the Cortez with the blue stripe instead of the more socially-acceptable red stripe.
My brother had been a Cub Scout, so I knew they got to go on overnight camping trips. Ironically, I think that was why he quit Scouts; he wasn't a fan of sleeping in a tent and getting poison ivy!
Ha! I do remember us sleeping outside once, and my cot got wet. Maybe that's why I quit, too.
I think we are onto something with girls forming cliques earlier than boys. In many notable ways, the girls in class were more calm and pseudo-professional than the boys, so maybe that's the same sort of phenomenon happening.
I swam with the school for a few years there, probably mostly from 6th through 10th grade. It was the most conforming I've ever done in my life, by far, and it was exhausting. At the same time, I never dared to let my guard down during that phase.
Boy Scouts (skipped cub scouts) was more of a Lord of the Flies experience for me. Wild children in khaki.
I think I might have had a wilder experience if I had made it to Boy Scouts, but on the other hand, Cub Scouts was plenty to let me know I wasn't much of an outdoor type person... at least when it comes to sleeping!
For my elementary school years, it was all about Puma. I wore New Balance.
For my middle school years, it was all about Adidas. I wore Vans.
For my high school years, it was about Nike- Jordans, specifically. I wore Vision Street Ware.
I went back to Vans for my college years. After that, mostly Asics and Vans for daily wear.
Let me see if I can do this:
-Nike/Reebok in middle school; I was half Athletix and half Reebok
-I chased trends during the first couple years of high school, but then started deliberately making fun of trends by junior and senior years with my own clothing choices, beginning to exclude myself and getting weird looks for the first time on purpose
-thrift store clothing for my 20s, plus whatever punk leftovers I had. I think I wore my leather jacket until like 23 or 24
-crocs with socks from 47ish on
When I started working at adidas after college, I told people I’d been wearing the brand since elementary school when I played soccer on the Mighty Mites. My next trip home, I pulled out the photo of me as proof. And discovered I had four stripes on my shoes… Not three it was a mind shattering moment of realization—I was not nearly as cool as I’d always thought I was.
Ha! You can pull that off for a while, but the preppy kids at my school would notice right away.
Luckily, I’d moved by then so my high school classmates and adidas coworkers took me at my word. I buried the photographic evidence for decades, bringing it to the light of day recently.
The kids were so vicious about that stuff. Ever see "Mean Girls" or "Heathers"? I think it was a lot like that.
I never tried to be cool. I was just me.
On the one hand, I'm stunned that human beings can avoid falling into this trap. It felt inescapable. But on the other hand, I've learned so much about how personality matters a ton, and this is just such a perfect example of how this can happen.
same. i got babysitting gigs though and supplemented whatever my folks were able to spend.
I look back on having my own budget (at least for trivial things) as a really important step. Other kids didn't have this, but I think it was a huge service.
Intellevision! I used to have one of those. The graphics were cumbersome, but the sports games worked well in spite of that.
Oh good! Help me remember what I played. I'm guessing this was 1982 or thereabouts. I watched some video on Intellivision and can see that the graphics were awesome for the time.