What do perms, snap bracelets, and the new NBA warm-ups have in common?


The King and Melo look good in classic bboy gear, but isn't it a little boring?

They're trends -- thank goodness -- that came or will come to an end.


The violent threat to suburban youth in schools before guns


My mom tried to give me this look when I was 8

The new NBA warm-ups, as seen above, are pretty generic.  They look as if they came straight out of the section of the Eastbay catalogue where you can get bulk, nondescript gear for high school sports.  Though I recognize that Adidas has a contract with NBA to (exclusively?) produce their gear (now two years in a row), their formula (or really lackthereof) hardly made me want to go out and endorse the NBA beyond going to the game and geting my favorite 6 dollar de-parmesaned garlic fries.  The concession stand is where "amazing happens" or rather the NBA is "where fights between service labor and nba patrons happens."


Fisher: Remember back in the day when the gear looked fly?
Kobe: Fish, you old-skool...

Perhaps I'm romanticing the NBA gear of the past as far more stylish and creative than the homogenizing tendencies of the present, where almost every team (Memphis and Indy as prime examples) has the same exact cut and designs but with different colors.  Perhaps that's why "hardwood classics nights" -- a trend if my memory serves me correctly was revived in large part by hip-hop music's endorsement of throwback gear in the first few years of the new millenium --  was and IS still popular today (another reason to thank hip-hop for the NBA today).  If anything, the throwback gear or gear with the throwback logos are probably the best looking merchandise that exists on the Warrior's teamstore.  


Perhaps reason for the Bulls slow start?

So what gives?  I wish I knew more about the past trends and how those styles were developed in comparison to the monopolistic ways that corporations work together to minimize our tastes (and the potential competitors like Tony.psd) while maximizing their profits.  

Were NBA jerseys and fangear much more stylish before or at least varied?  In the 90s? 80s? 70s???  What does that say when Warrior fans are clamoring to get Tony.psd gear way more than what the Warriors and the NBA currently offer?  Who is the NBA really targetting if this is the case? Are your interested really being represented? Or is Tony.psd just so 4000 with it? (I'd probably say the latter...)