i have wondered recently if Antidote is in something of an identity crisis. it's certainly fun for me (which is certainly a requirement for its continuation), but basically i just design whatever i want to make myself happy. the net effect of putting products by THAT description (whatever makes Greg happy) out there is, the consistent shoppers are people who happen to agree with my personal taste all around. that's certainly, niche i guess. seriously, though, i mean, are there kind of three identities to Antidote? drug free, vegetarian, and positive? they're all important to me, but i'm feeling that if i want to be ambitious with Antidote, which i do, is some way to either tie it all together, or to start trimming out items that are not consistent with SOME not-so-blurry positioning.
i think about cutting out the straight edge stuff and just being a make-a-difference vegetarian company, but thats somehow not a wholly satisfying prospect. i do believe that i am going for something different than just an outlet for vegetarian stuff. and i'm not ashamed of the drug free stuff in the least. in fact, originally, when i conceived the idea of Antidote, it was to be a positively positioned drug free clothing company. and the drug free stuff is possibly the most attractive part to some people who are sick, as i was, of the current state of drug free fashion. even from a strictly business standpoint - it sells the best! so, no, many things in me resist cutting that stuff out.
opening a second clothing company specific to drug free stuff, i would consider, maybe. but something about the drug free stuff being in the way of a person otherwise shopping at Antidote for positive clothing is attractive. it lets them wonder 'why's this in here? i guess drug free is a positive thing.' maybe they haven't even made the connection before because of the other sxe 'kill your neighborhood drug dealer' stuff out there. it's drug free's second chance for these people. for reasons like this, i LIKE putting out all these ideas together - i believe they CAN be cohesively grouped, and successfully, fruitfully cross pollenated...
y'know what? the more i think about it - there IS a central theme - to me, and to the line. it's positive, and political - but not separately. it is caring, wanting to make a difference, wanting to show it, but in a fun positive way. it's "positively presented personal politics." is that memorable? hmm, well, it's certainly well alliterated!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
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4 comments:
If you wanted feedback on this, I'm happy to give you some:
I think antidote is amazing just the way it is. It offers clothing to the few people who make the wise choice to not drink or smoke, while also having fashion for other types of lifestyles, like vegetarianism and veganism. It even has options for those who are not any of those things, by having clothes that represent happiness or positivity.
The point is.. that your clothing line simply OFFERS these types of apparel to those who take pride in it. It's not pressuring anyone to purchase it because it's the "cool" thing to wear. It's different, which is good.. I don't like to present myself like everybody else.
I wouldn't limit anything on this webstore. I mean if anything you're promoting people to be happy, and healthy :)
i think antidote is great as it is.
I'm pretty sure you answered your own question, and more eloquently than I ever could, but I'm gonna run my mouth anyway.
As someone who agrees with all three ideas represented by Antidote Apparel, I definitely see where they are linked, and in a lot of different ways. If someone is vegan because they do not want to put gross things like corpses and another species' milk in their body, chances are they won't want to consume drugs or alcohol either. If someone does not want to support corrupt industries like meat and dairy, then they probably won't want to support the animal testing on tobacco products, or violation of human rights by druglords, or just the complete destruction of lives caused by addiction, either. My personal view is that I want to make positive change in the world, especially regarding issues like animal rights, and I know that self-destructive behavior (like getting fucked up every weekend like my incredibly mature peers do) is not going to help achieve that.
Veganism and straight edge and positivity are so linked that I don't completely understand how someone can be one and not the rest (though I sort of do, in that I was vegan for a year before I started to consider myself straight edge or even mildly optimistic). Anyway I think my point in all that rambling was that Antidote is awesome just the way it is.
I agree with you and you commentors that you should keep all three aspects of antidote apparel. It would be neat, however, if you could make a few designs that support positivity, veganism, and being drug free all together somehow.. (i'm not saying I know how this could be done without a boring "Straight Edge Vegan" logo ^_^. Maybe doing a parody of some typical XVX shirt depicting a guy with a gun or something like that?)
Also, I think it would be neat if you made some political shirts. (Like, maybe something in support of women's rights or gay rights? I'm not sure what your political ideas are...)
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