Hi,

This has most probably been posted before, but I thought it'd make a nice introduction for myself.

Do any of you identify with Cayce's avoidance of brand-names?

Ever since I was a kid, I've refused to wear t-shirts with brand-names plastered across them. I was a nightmare to buy for at Christmas time.

Still am.

My sister bought me a black FCUK (French Connection) t-shirt last Christmas. It's the most comfortable t-shirt I've ever worn, the cotton feels like cashmere and is thick and snug ... but I hate the fact it has FCUK stenciled on the front and back in white. I spent days scratching those letters off, even though they're barely a centimeter high. I don't know what adhesive FCUK use, but these buggers are near indestructible! I wore my fingernails down to the quick scratching them off, it literally took hours of painstaking work.

So I totally identified with Cayce. And like her, I'm a wee bit hypocritical. I'll wear Doc Martens, and I'll only drink Dilmah black tea, and I wear t-shirts that advertise U2 or Tori Amos or Neil Gaiman's Death, and I'll watch anything by Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli is a brand.

haha

Welcome.

At some level of another, I suppose we all dislike the idea of all-powerful companies.
Especially the fact that we must pay to become walking ads for their brands.

But on the other hand, we can't help liking some specific products.
That's the case with WG, who has a fascination for Starbucks.


For a second, I though you said that Gaiman was dead...

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...we can't help liking some specific products. That's the case with WG, who has a fascination for Starbucks.

Yep, totally agree. It's your choice, and I don't judge people by the brand-names they choose. I even think it's okay for people to eat McDonalds if they want to, it's their choice (and occasionally I duck in for a cheeseburger meself). It's not like they're forcing us by gunpoint to buy their products ... *cough*.

It's not that I don't like brand-names per se, it's just a weird compulsive-obsessive thing I have, I just can't stand wearing shirts with labels printed on them for all the world to see. Call me anal, but perhaps it's because I don't want other people to judge me by the brand-name I'm wearing. I'm sure there's a psychoanalytic reason for it.

quote:

For a second, I though you said that Gaiman was dead...

He will be if he keeps working as hard as he did in 2005. The man never sleeps, he's always got a script to write or a novel to proofread or a short story to finish or a signing to attend or a meeting with the Pope .... what a life!

"Mystic Muppet" ...what was I thinking? I might change my name, but thanks for the welcome!

Oh god, yes, I have been like it for years, it possibly began during the eighties when benetton was the fashion at my school with that B word scrawled across everything, I didn't like it and I couldn't afford it so wore plain unlabelled clothes or cut the labels from cheaper clothes to prevent ridicule and it has grown from there. I cut labels from shirt pockets, patches from jeans, tags from jumpers it doesn't matter if they are designer or whatever, I hate it when brand names are unremovable and won't buy these products. When I came across PR I couldn't believe that others felt like this, I thought I was in the minority (of one) as I have never met anyone else who does this (though i have never had buttons and rivits relathed to make them anonymous). But even then I never adulterate my converse boots, I don't know why they are exempt, I kid myself it is because they are a design classic but I know that's not true. I have recently discovered leaning towards some companies that seem more 'sound' but still wouldn't wear a logo of theirs, the clothing comapny howies springs to mind, (and the innocent smoothie company), but again I know deep down that however sound they seem it is another way of parting me from my pound notes and they are just targetting a different consumer type.

Judging from the number of times this sort of thing has come up, it's not that rare. I remember several people introducing themselves with "I'm just like Cayce! I cut the labels off my clothes too! I only wear <thought-to-be-cool-by-the-poster-brand>!" (I'm too lazy to find them though, thus my poor example links.) Mystic Muppet, you recognize that those things you like are also brands, so good on you for that, and welcome too.

I think Cayce is just an extreme version of an urge many of us have. Most people find the extremes of logo plastering and invasive advertising irritating at one time or another.

Man, I'm so logo-averse that I cover up my own birthmarks with Sharpie ink.

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Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

You defaced a John Galliano. Oh the humanity. Where is the thread for Brand-o-philes?