The brand “Corteiz” and many others have seen meteoric rises to success with such brutally unconventional methods of spreading the word that the brands seem to staple urban culture but to the uneducated eye seem to be throw-away brands that in a few years will be lost to the ever-shifting beast that is pop culture.
Clint, the mastermind behind the bedroom brand, he first started in 2017 utilizing screen-printed crewnecks and t-shirts. At first glance, this seems unextraordinary, anybody could order the right material and launch their own “brand” with customized logos that appear in random places upon common streetwear items such as cargo. This is to say it has been done and it will continue to be done. The defining factor that sets wheat apart from the chaff is audience engagement. This is where Clint’s so-called brilliance fluoresces.
In Autumn 2021, huge swathes of people darted through the streets of Soho in a desperate attempt to get their hand on the newest articles of “Corteiz”. Unusual for the streets of Soho to say the least. The carnage was all down to the marketing. Clint holds these far and few between drops of clothing at random intervals has limited stock on the day, and usually has a competitive element to it. In this instance, after whittling down to his last few shirts, Clint and friends decide to take the shirts and run through the streets of Soho having the hungry buyers chase them - quite evidently the reason the police stepped in.
“But why?” Might be the first question. The sense of scarcity creates demand and manipulates how pop culture expresses itself. A desire to separate oneself from the “norm” is arguably the reason behind pop culture’s growing relevance. So, if someone owns a piece of Cortiez, or a brand similar, they differ from even the norm of pop culture, you own a piece that the next man might not and that’s where the allure lies.
But the mission statement of the brand might be its most admirable element and how it acted on it is even better. “DA GREAT BOLO EXCHANGE”. The concept was simple, rush to another odd location and trade a puffer jacket from a mainstream clothing brand such as North Face and receive a Corteiz branded one in exchange. It was another ground-breaking move causing huge spikes in traction and further promoting the anti-establishment part of the brand.
Throughout urban culture, there is a deep-rooted desire for sustainability and the way this is best expressed is through a disdain towards fast fashion (clothes stores that produce cheaply manufactured goods with little to no creative process and then hike up the prices to rake in profit), stores such as ASOS have seen huge tanks in share price(The stock price has dropped £1759 since the start of the year, a drop of 74%) due to the heavily reduced customer bases which has been nabbed up by Clint and his ingenious marketing.
Arguably the best way of promoting his brand is getting in the public eye and this is another area where Clint fails to fail. The brand was photographed on the likes of Stormzy, Dave, Slowthai, and Jorja Smith all massively influential in and out of the pop culture scene. This almost glorified the brand to god-like status and coupled with its nigh impossibility to reach, Corteiz rules the world.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here