The Future of Streetwear, According to Industry Experts

Is luxury‘s love affair with streetwear over?

Some might think so looking at the men’s runways over the last few seasons, which have pivoted from streetwear- and sneaker-dominated designs to more tailored styles with classic footwear.

But the streetwear gang says: Not so fast.

The link between streetwear and luxury reached its height over the last decade, with virtually every major design house tapping into the culture and appealing to a demographic that it had generally ignored in the past. 

Be it major collaborations or streetwear designers taking on creative roles at high-end brands, the lines between streetwear and luxury seemingly blurred and the once underground subculture largely came into the mainstream.

This year, streetwear’s position in the luxury market has been questioned following high-profile sales of Supreme, which was sold by VF Corp. to EssilorLuxottica after four years, and Off-White, which LVMH sold to Bluestar Alliance after three years, and the latest runway shows that displayed less streetwear-inspired silhouettes than prior years. 

According to industry experts, streetwear still has a place in the luxury market, but its presence will likely shift as the overall fashion industry continues to face challenges and as there’s a growing appetite among streetwear customers for the brands to go back to their roots. 

“Streetwear to me has always been this revolt against the status quo,” said Chris Gibbs, founder of streetwear store Union LA. “Admittedly, I think everyone in streetwear — especially in the last 10 years as streetwear kind of became the ‘it thing’ — a big part of who we’ve always been is doing these kinds of [fashion] collaborations. The more you collaborate with the thing you’re revolting against, the lines kind of get blurred.” 

Don C, the streetwear designer and founder of Chicago-based retailer RSVP Gallery, shared Gibbs’ sentiment, stating that streetwear isn’t dead, it just needs to refocus its values and mission. 

“I don’t think that anything is dead, I just think things aren’t as strong as they were,” he said. “That might just be because subjectively I am more used to it or it’s not where I am in my life as a subject looking at it. I bet there are certain kids today that are having the same energy or feeling the same feeling like when I first discovered things. I think streetwear is involved in every part of fashion. I see it on the runways, I see it on the streets. It’s just weird — the whole categorization of it.” 

According to Luca Benini, the streetwear maven responsible for igniting streetwear in Europe in the late ‘80s, even if streetwear is no longer fueled by hype culture, the consequences of the unprecedented tie-ups and crossover between the luxury fashion establishment and streetwear players that have dominated the late 2010s and early 2020s have changed the industry for good. 

“When Off-White came into the picture with its firepower, it had a strong impact. There is probably a little bit more of a stasis right now,” he said. “Of course, there are seasonal fluctuations, but I think that this cross-pollination has stuck, to the benefit of both parties. The fashion system as a whole benefited from it, on the one side with [luxury embracing] important cultural topics that were not part of the conversation before and on the other triggering streetwear brands to upscale their offering.”

Streetwear designer and author Bobby Hundreds thinks that the slowdown of luxury and streetwear will help set healthier and more realistic expectations for brands, many of which can’t scale to the levels of luxury players. These expectations can help streetwear brands connect with their subculture roots and communities, which have always been the backbone of the market. 

“Over the next five years specifically, there’s going to be a correction in terms of more of a healthier balance around culture,” he said. “Communities are going to become more important. There’s going to be an emphasis on design and product, and for me, because I’m a writer and I believe in storytelling, so much of it’s going to come back to story.” 

Laura Baker, the cofounder of New York City concept store Essx, thinks there will be a more distinct separation between streetwear and luxury aesthetically as streetwear brands reconnect with their origins. 

“You have to go back to define what streetwear is,” she said. “Like, streetwear is what people are wearing outside. It’s what’s happening in the youth and in the culture and in the communities. It’s never meant to be just one thing. It’s not just about skateboard culture. It’s about all subcultures and it’s like, what’s the subculture of the moment?”

Streetwear is and always will be anchored on casual styles like T-shirts, hoodies and sneakers, but luxury’s impact on the streetwear market has influenced brands and newer labels to embrace classic menswear and suiting, and give it a streetwear touch. 

“In the past decade, streetwear hung its hat on T-shirts, hoodies, logos and sweatpants, and it was bit sloppy,” Baker said. “I’m seeing a lot more design pieces. I’m seeing a lot more tailoring. I’m seeing a lot more style in it. I’m seeing a lot more individuality in streetwear where in the past decade, at least, it just felt very one-note across any brand, whether it was luxury or not luxury. Now it feels a lot more diverse. There’s room for a lot of different avenues and subcultures and people to enjoy streetwear.” 

Many are also pointing to the merging of streetwear and traditional aesthetics to the maturation of the streetwear customer, who is getting older and looking for more sophisticated silhouettes. 

“At the end of the day, every culture gets a little bit sophisticated as it gets older,” Don C said. “Similar with streetwear, hip-hop is like that, so as the people participating start experiencing other things because of wisdom or age or just wanting to be different and evolve a bit, that subculture will evolve. It’s all positive. To add suiting to streetwear, it’s cool that you can still be considered streetwear in a proper suit or something because, to me, it’s the attitude that you give that makes you streetwear, not the item.” 

At Union LA, Gibbs stated he’s seeing a new subset of luxury streetwear brands that are blending elevated materials and craftsmanship with traditional silhouettes. Gibbs named brands like Satoshi Nakamoto, RRR-123, B1 Archive and Better With Age as some standouts in the category. 

“Streetwear is a very graphic-based proposition,” Gibbs said. “These guys are taking those graphics, but building really considered, interesting architectural shapes and drapes in a way that I think is fun and interesting and I’m happy to see the evolution and how the consumer is consuming and digesting that and playing with it.” 

For the future of streetwear, experts agree that staying in tune with communities and subcultures and not letting business pressures impact the creative side too much is key for its success.

“It’s a healthier balance for streetwear, which is a blend of transaction and commerce and art and culture,” Hundreds said. “It just can’t be heavily tilted one way or another. It needs to be a little bit more symmetrical. We’re seeing a new generation and a new school of independent brands, emerging designers and really revolutionary artists coming about and questioning a lot of the rules that have been put into place over the last decade, and that’s symptomatic and exemplary of much of the macro market, the macro economy, the macro culture. You’re seeing a high turn against institutions, a challenging of established rules.”  

When it comes to streetwear’s link with luxury, there’s still opportunity for the two worlds to continue working together. 

“If the market and the finance worlds’ impressions of streetwear are not as glowing as they were a decade ago, that is going to have a ramification down to the smaller brands and to the end user and to the consumer,” Hundreds said. “But, it doesn’t mean that it won’t stoke and inspire a next-generation brand to come in and reset the rules. Maybe much of the old way of that last decade or two decades is not the same anymore, but that’s kind of the magic of streetwear — it’s continually evolving. I always say that streetwear generation is about regeneration. I always say streetwear is dead because it’s then born again the next morning. It just keeps turning over and over and responding back to itself.” 

– With contributions from Martino Carrera