The Substance of Subculture
Ronnie Fieg talking to David Senra about the culture of collecting:
[Ronnie Fieg] When I first started at David Z, it was a subculture. By the time I became a buyer for David Z, it was for the masses... I wanted to be about the local, and I was very much into the culture of collecting.That kid that was focused on collecting... was coming back for the product that I was creating, but it wasn't coming back as a daily consumer.
[David Senra] So the idea is like, we have this very special differentiated product, but it's 10%... There's 90% of stuff you can get anywhere. Why don't we just focus on the special?
[Ronnie Fieg] Right. And I wanted to do that, but that wasn't the roadmap for David.
[David Senra] I got a funny story... A few years before he died, there was a new CEO of Nike. Steve Jobs loved brands. Nike, Sony, Polaroid, Apple...
[Ronnie Fieg] Soulful brands.
[David Senra] Exactly... And he's like, "Steve, do you have any advice for me?" He's like, "Nike makes some of the best products in the world, but you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crap and focus on the good stuff."
[Ronnie Fieg] But the crap was still generating a lot of money.
[David Senra] Yeah, but Steve didn't give a shit.
[Ronnie Fieg] And I don't give a shit... I saw an opportunity in being passionate about 100% of the things I was doing, not about 10 to 15% of the things I was doing.
[David Senra] You feel when there's love behind what people are doing.
[Ronnie Fieg] Substance.
Curating for collectors is subtraction. You know exactly who's coming through the door, so you stop stocking for anyone else.
Julian Lehr on the components of status signalling:
Signaling Message. A hidden status subtext you're trying to convey about yourselfSignaling Distribution. The channel through which you're communicating your signaling message
Signaling Amplification. Ways to boost your signaling message to compete against status rivals
The scarce thing is not output.
It's a signal only the subculture can read.