Is Adidas in a very Chinese time of their life?
The exploitation of culture in fashion is nothing new. With social media, fashion trends have a global reach where culture is no longer as confined as it once was. The Adidas Chinese New Year jacket demonstrates this while also presenting the difficult paradoxes within the fashion industry, and trends of Western consumption.
Released exclusively to China with elements of the traditional Chinese ‘tang’ suit, the jacket was initially marketed towards East Asian youth. However, this jacket quickly began trending on Western social media, with some influencers making trips to China, despite their lack of connection to the culture Adidas was attempting to reach.
While it is entirely possible to appreciate cultural clothing, the historic power dynamic between the East and the West cannot be ignored. The mystification and exoticism associated with China by the West is not a new phenomenon, but it is apparently not something we have moved past. Adidas have taken the opportunity to capitalise on this through the arrival of these jackets in European stores.
The popularity of the jacket, and its traditional features, harvested from Tik Tok, constructs it as an impermanent trend, something that will eventually be considered ‘uncool’. This association of culture with trends is not only cashed in on by fast fashion brands, but is also damaging to the culture itself.
The pinnacle of this trend becoming an issue is its inevitable over consumption. With knockoffs available on AliExpress and eBay, the issue of exploitative labour becomes clear in this paradoxical trend. A jacket designed to supposedly honour Chinese tradition, and target East Asian youth, produced by a company known to use exploitative sweatshops in the same very country, becomes slightly ironic. The grappling for this jacket by Western influencers to the extent to which AliExpress finds a market for their own version, now appears not respectful at all.
Appreciation for culture can definitely be positively displayed through fashion. However, if to do this you must fund the exploitation of that same culture, it’s probably not worth it.
Illustration by Lydia Kempton (@lydiak_arts) for The Student