The Rise Of Streetwear

The maturing of athleisure and the continued decline of formal/career wear has led to the rise of streetwear fashion again in its new form. Streetwear is a distinctive style of street fashion. It is rooted in the California surf and skate culture. It has grown to encompass elements of hip hop fashion, Japanese street fashion and modern designer.

This new contemporary streetwear fashion mixes premium and lower end, formal and active style in one look. It emphasizes being casual and comfortable. Contemporary people can go directly from the gym to shopping or work to home without a wardrobe change. The rise of hi-tech fabrications has also led to the popularity of streetwear and it has become an important aspect of it.

While established sport brands have seen the benefit of this consumer shift, we have noted luxury, department, and specialty stores have benefitted from this shift. Both Barney’s and Bergdorfs have been collaborating with brands like Off-White and Kith.

Trending Brands


While streetwear creates hype for sneakerheads and cult brand followers, some brands like Supreme are now working with established brands such as The North Face and high-end brands like Aquascutum. Brands currently trending and raking in positive numbers are Palace Skateboards, Stussy, Diamond, Vans (NYSE: VFC), The NorthFace (NYSE:VFC), Bape, Hood By Air, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Off-White, Fear of God, Kith, Nike (NYSE:NKE), Nike Lab, Under Armour Sport( NYSE:UA), Adidas (ETR:ADS), Alexander Wang for Adidas, and LULU Lab (NASDAQ:LULU).

JHA View

In the most recent fashion month, we noted the fashion crowd opted to pair ready-to-wear styles with trendy sneakers instead of glamorous heels.

Skate influence is key as we witness the continued evolution of streetwear and we imagine it will continue to inspire with the upcoming Olympics in 2020 that will feature skating as a competing sport. While skate has traditionally been known to be an American and male-dominated sport, it is also going through some changes. Skating is becoming a global interest and in many places, women are jumping in on the sport and pastime.

We expect to see positive numbers for skate-influenced brands that are considered streetwear. As the women’s market in activewear is gaining attention from retailers, we expect more brands to jump on this trend and refine their product to suit this lifestyle. We expect public companies to experience growth due to this trend, including Adidas, Nike, Converse (NYSE:NKE), Puma (ETR:PUM), Lululemon, Vans, The North Face, and Urban Outfitters(NASDAQ:URBN). We have also noted Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) and Tilly’s (NYSE: TLYS) will benefit from the skate and surf influence in their stores due to the current trend.

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