Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Capitalize on Tragedy!




From Wikipedia
The 12th Street Riot in Detroit began in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967. Vice squad officers executed a raid at a blind pig on the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount on the city's near westside. The confrontation with the patrons there evolved into one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in modern U.S. history, lasting five days and far surpassing the 1943 riot the city endured. Before the end, the state and federal governments sent in National Guard and U.S. Army troops and the result was forty-three dead, 467 injured, over 7,200 arrests and more than 2,000 buildings burned down.

This hat and shirt combo was displayed on Hypebeast today and is set to be released along with the Fall line from Poets & Thieves. The hat was made to match the shirt you see below it. I normally wouldn't show shirts on the site, but I needed it to provide context.

As you have hopefully read above, the Detroit riots in 1967 are one of the bloodiest ordeals in American history. We at CapHappy, find it ridiculous that a company would be exploiting such an event in clothing form. While I'm sure that Poets & Thieves would rush to give us all a rundown about how the shirt and hat was made in remembrance of those who were effected by the event, the fact of the matter is that they are making money off of this. What's worse is that streetwear kids are going to rush to the stores to pick it up because "It's that new shit I saw on Hypebeast", without knowing the story behind what they're wearing and that they are, in essence, celebrating the death or injury of 500 people.

As many of you know, we are fans of all sorts of caps, at times, we will even post hats that we don't like simply because we can respect the design, idea, or story behind a product, but this is something we simply cannot support. While I'm sure that Poets & Thieves could give two shits about what we think, our hope is that one or two of you faithful readers will follow along in not supporting projects like this.

If not, then open the doors wide for the upcoming Holocaust all-over print Hoodie to match your Hurricane Katrina Dunks...

Info/Pictures: Hypebeast

6 Comments:

Blogger Celeste said...

amazing post erick.

7:21 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Or this could be a way for a company to educate people on something that is often over looked in todays society, the racism and injustice our nation embraced not so long ago.

8:55 PM  
Blogger Justin Weeks said...

Great post. No this is not a way for a company to educate people on something. This is exploitation. The shirt and hat gives no dates, RIP, reasons, causes, etc.. for the riot.

Incidentally I am in the middle of a New Era project dealing with the same Detroit riot.

I am:

#1 From Detroit
#2 Not Selling this cap
#3 Exhibiting cap at certain events
#4 providing educational materials outlining the reasons of the riots, and the after effects.


How about if I did a "LA Bricks '92" shirt? (think reginald Denny and looting) Is that educational?

Fuck no!

I am sick of seeing cool guy brands exploit culture as they see fit.

Erick, I am with you.

8:27 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

oh snap!

3:05 PM  
Blogger Artist said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

11:39 AM  
Blogger drex said...

great idea on the holocaust all over hoody

7:58 AM  

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