R.A.G. New York

I had come across this article ages ago (since I’m a city dweller ages ago happens to translate to ‘a month’ ago) which discussed how Obama had won the graphic t-shirt race. I was slightly confused as to whether or not fashion had anything to do with politics; moreover, the presidential race. Here is a short quip from what I read:

“…another thing that Obama has going for him is that the graphic t-shirts depicting him are still rather exclusive diverse and some are hard to find. New York clothing stores have not yet embraced these graphic t shirts and therefore, leave intact the feeling of wearing something original when one finds an unusual political message t shirt that support that candidate. What Obama has achieved is an online marketing campaign that runs itself through its young supporters and graphic tee designers, something that McCain may have to pay for dearly later down the road.” – Al Keser

Aside from being well written, it’s extremely on point. Clothing has become an integral part of the grassroots support for Barack Obama and it seems a little too late for the other candidates to catch up to him. This notion of t shirts, Obama, and support were merely reinforced in my mind by an article I found in yesterday’s edition of “The Cut”, an editorial fashion blog by Amy Odell who works for New York Magazine. The Obama campaign seems to have picked up on the fact that people are making t-shirts by the boatload on his behalf without him ever having to raise a finger. The smart marketing team (which is sounding a lot like a group of twenty year olds with bright futures) decided to launch an official Obama clothing campaign. Here are the details from The Cut:

“Barack Obama’s campaign has arranged for twenty fashion designers to create clothing and tote bags to sell on the campaign’s Website next month.”

Well look at that, not only is Coach letting the public design their canvas tote bags, but so is the Obama Campaign. Is anyone noticing a trend in user generated content? I am. It’s nice to see that Obama, or at least the people that works under him are smart enough to keep abreast of the trends like web 2.0 and user-generated content. I suppose that this makes it clear who has a better understand of major internet issues such as net-neutrality. The use of home made graphic t shirts in order to raise support for a candidate might seem silly to you; but many would be surprised to find out how much of what they own, do, think, and act are influenced by what others are wearing and doing.