Streetwear, Gorpcore & the future of menswear.

Menswear is changing. Even Virgil says streetwear's gonna die.

Meanwhile, there's this growing trend of urban dwellers wearing camping gear like they're headed Upstate...

Meet Gorpcore.

Is it replacing streetwear?

[thread]

So let's unpack:

1/ What Gorpcore is + where it came from.
2/ What makes something Gorpcore.
3/ Its place in the culture.
4/ Predicting just how mainstream outdoor-wear can go.
What is Gorpcore:

Ever heard of "good old raisins and peanuts?"

It's another phrase for trail mix. Yep, that's it.

So how's this related to Gorpcore?
Gorpcore is someone who wears a (trail) mix of: technical, utilitarian, function, outdoorsy-wear on the regular.

... you know, clothing *traditionally* reserved for trail runners. Hikers. Campers.

Kind of like this:
In 2017, The Cut's Jason Chen coined the phrase Gorpcore as a way of describing this budding species.

But it ain't new.

It's been around for years, gaining steam in the late 2010s.

Chen says Gorpcore represents a style-shift away from minimalism (what's known as Normcore).
Here's Chen's piece if you're interested in a deeper dive on the origins.
https://t.co/R09YQeOftC
Characteristics of Gorpcore?
It's:
- playfully normal.
- ugly on purpose.
- painfully obstinate.
- obscenely colorful.

All at the same time. Here's what I mean 👇
A direct quote from someone Chen interviewed:

“Listen, if you dropped me somewhere upstate, I’d cry... but I love clothes that can transport me."

that's the irony of Gorpcore.

By being non-style, it *is* a fashion statement.
But what *actually* makes something Gorpcore?

I've got 4 indicators: color, shape, layering, and function.

Here's your guide to detecting Gorpies in the wild... 🏕️
1/ COLOR
Color is key.

You often see it with the outerwear and socks.

From fleeces and windbreakers, to soft-shell puffers, color is where you make it pop.

More from Culture

I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹

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