Its always been so contradictory to me how in nerdy hobbies like gaming and especially anime the characters in the media are often super fashion forward but the people who consume said media are notorious for dressing bad
You're articulating so many of the gripes I've had over the years with merch, both gaming and anime stuff. Back when I was really into attack on Titan, I ordered one of those green cloaks they wear in the show, only to never wear it because it was cheap Halloween costume polyester haha
When it comes to gaming (or even movies) fashion trends, I'd much rather prefer it if the clothes (or really any other merch for that matter) I was wearing was IN-UNIVERSE clothing rather than just uninspired, bland and boring branded stuff.
I've always been so annoyed that they don't do things like the gym leader outfits from pokemon, or just clothes that characters would wear in general- kojima did things right with the death stranding collab but yeah I can imagine how expensive it must be to design that kind of jacket
Its not that expensive, they used Clo 3D to model the clothes of the characters in game which is the fashion industry standard for pattermaking, they just needed to export the pattern and make the grading. They are expensive to produce but the U$ 1700,00 are overcharging, they should cost around U$ 1000,00 and they could still make a very interesting profit
Being uninspired is the actual issue here. It’s really hard to buy cool fun merch for….anything at all, especially when “official” merch basically doesn’t exist, leaving others to pick up the slack, and unfortunately its most via lazy redbubble shirts.
tbh I'd personally rather take inspiration from a character I like (without it becoming full on cosplay) when putting a fit together than wearing officially branded clothing. LOWLuxury did a video about taking inspiration from movie characters in your style choices and I feel like the same could apply to video games as well
This jacket is perfect for Iceland waterfall photos It's Acronym, so it can withstand Iceland, and it's orange, so it fits the photography cliche But ofc it sold out while I was driving home, rip
Honestly I only got one because I got lucky reloading the Acronym site a day or 2 later - I think they had a couple of cancelled orders which they loaded back on. Would love to see it in an amazing setting like that!
i think reproduction pieces from game characters is the best way to do game clothes, since the fashion is direcly tied to character and world design, and the art medium means they're very much unique from any existing clothes. the pokemon gym leader clothing is a great example, so many gym leader pieces have unique color schemes or little lines and angles that make them resemble their pokemon or type. morty's scarf at 4:37 is a pretty simple piece, but the cut edge and red flame ends are unique details that make it resemble certain ghost mons. it could be worn up or down in many styles yet retains the design connections to the character. reproducing these kinds of pieces irl lets you show off a game's design aspects instead of just showing off an ip. the death stranding jacket is really cool, but such a big piece is gonna always be worn as "the death stranding jacket"
I think you made an excellent point in that game related clothing can be at its best when it takes inspiration from a game, or even a genre of games, rather than simply being minimum effort merch such as cheapo t-shirts with a simple logo printed on them. Probably the best example I've come across was a sweather that was made to look like a set of armour from the Witcher. In addition to looking vaguely like something Geralt would wear it was actually a decent quality sweater that was actually warm & comfortable.
Re: Pokemon, seriously, dumbass merch in japan for relative pennies has so much more character and inspiration than anything, ANYTHING related to pokemon released in the west, like creative use of pokemon designs, or clothes inspired by trainers and pokemon... I still daydream of owning a Raihan's jacket. But it's all stuck in Japan. Anywhere outside, It's Pikachu or Charizard for 34495th time. It's so disappointing.
Such a great topic! Massive geek here, and I love a good licenced product, but I want something that comes from the universe itself, not a logo sticked on something. I want the clothes from Cyberpunk and not these disappointing t-shirts. The vest looks amazing on you btw!
I've recently been thinking a lot about having an orange/black puffy statement piece like this jacket cuz of an image from an anime I was inspired by. So this jacket seems cool asf to me. Definitely planning on buying it within the next decade when I finally get myself a well paying job.
Back in the day, I got an N7 Mass Effect hoodie. I think it was in 2012 when Mass Effect 3 was coming out. I got it through their own merch webstore. Had the N7 logo on the chest with the red and white stripe going down the side of one arm. The cool thing about it was that the limited edition of the game had a code for that exact hoodie that your Commander Shepard could wear as a casual outfit.
The N7 merch was crazy popular, feel like I saw people wearing that all the time. Definitely a good early example of gaming-related clothes being passable as 'regular' clothing
So what you're saying is... we need to stock up on tacky graphic tees now so that when it becomes ironic, tasteful gamer merch in the future we can sell it for fat stacks of cash! Only then will we be able to afford the Kojima Acronym collab.
I really wish gaming clothing was not just the game's mascot printed on some random tee or hoodie, even among "higher end" brands. So utterly boring and shows a complete lack of understanding, or rather, complete disconnect with only juicy pokémon €€€ or some such in mind. It also reminds me of the opposite, when capcom did Nero and Dante leather coats as real-life premium leather jackets at 2.5k€, but the coats just didn't capture their in-game counterpart style-wise, even accounting for the fact that it's a game, etc...
bro Musterbrand was exacly this back in the day. they made high quality "gaming gear" (fking stupid word) without printing CALL OF DUTY in Max Font on the back i have some Metal gear stuff from them and you wouldnt know until you see the little XOF logo or other hints to the serie on the jacket. Same goes with Portal 2 Hoodie. It has the testing chamber warnings on the front, Apeture Science on the armsleeve and the logo on the back. but nowhere is standing PORTAL on it. oh and they wherent like 2k for a shirt. maybe 20-500€ depending on what u want
I remember S.T.A.L.K.E.R. had some really nice merch that was basically just stuff the stalkers in the game might wear. Unfortunately I was a teen back then and couldn't afford those
I will say that Ubisoft was really ahead of the curve here by offering almost 1-to-1 official merch from assassins creed/watchdogs plus others, that probably wasn't anywhere near acronym quality but was very tech wear inspired. Unfortunately all that was shuttered like last year with the shutting down of the gear store.
I’ve always thought about this topic too! Gaming fashion theoretically could be cool. Totally agree with picking up vintage gaming tees, (it’s tough being a Nintendo fan because they were so stingy with their IP) but I do think there could be cool influenced pieces, but I also have thought about how the actual gaming experience could be translated into either accessories or gaming shoes. I’ve always thought gloves could be an interesting way to intersect that but I’m unsure how it could be “cool”
I’ve been watching your videos for a bit and got very excited at the idea of this one !! Then you randomly showed a clip of u running TF2 in 2024, I thought I was alone 😂😂 fire video and great clip man haha
I’ve bought some Mass Effect inspired gear from the BioWare merch shop. Mainly because the N7 logo along with the red, black, and white aesthetic feels like it works well as an athletic style brand.
At the end of the day they're collectibles, I see no difference in that jacket from say a 2k usd Magic The Gathering card, a signed ball/tshirt from sport, sneakers, etc. Personally I've paid a premium for figures that are probably just a couple dollars in plastic but whatever, it's part of the collecting thing. If it doesn't harm you to spend that much money knock yourself out lol.
Nothing wrong with collecting stuff (and hey I'm a certified jacket hoarder) but the great thing about clothing is you get to wear it! If you want collectibles there's (right now) cooler gaming stuff imo.
the reverse happens as well: in Ghost Recon Breakpoint (😒) your character can equip branded gear made by 5.11 Tactical (😒) - a standard model referencing has always happened in game design but the 5.11 stuff has high fidelity but other items are visibly changed. Notably the menu thumbnail for the 3-day Backpack resembles the Mystery Ranch 3DAP, whereas the in-game model does not... I'm not suggesting that 5.11 required Ubisoft to change the items to look less like those of other brands, of course.
That's super weird - guess there's all sorts of random brand deal stuff that goes on behind the scenes which we're not aware of. Would be sick to see more technical/tactical gear manufacturers show up in games like that, but giving the game designers freedom to make non-real version impossible irl
This is a tough stance because like gamer tees I always want to see anime tees have original artwork on it. Take a look at Hardcore Chocolate and their anime/game tees. A lot of them are original while staying core to the series. COSPA also does great anime tees as well.
As an R.E. fan, I was surprised to find a Leon Kennedy edition Seiko 😳. Only featured in Death Island. Still pretty cool that it was in the movie. But $2600
@ThisIsAntwon yoooooooo not the point but shoutout you for putting aries in the video they're one of my favorite streetwear brands and theyre so underrecognized
Would you ever consider selling to me? I can’t find one anywhere and I’d love to get one for my cousin he’s a huge fan of the game. He’s been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and I don’t know if he will ever get to play the sequel. Let me know asap. Thanks!
Honestly, keeping it in the "graphic tee" type merch the supreme/yohji/tekken was peak and the NES pumas were really cool at the time, I dont understand why brands dont reference old school console color pallettes and the Y2K gaming logo style more often its almost always a hit
Gaming nostalgia feels like a better starting point - feels cooler to reference something from your childhood/history and older-gen art styles than whatever the hottest new AAA game is
Curious what you’d think of a collaboration like the online ceramics and silent hill collection? I thought those pieces really captured the spirit of the game with either screen grabs of the best moments of the games or something less obvious like the heavens night sign on the back of the shirt
Awesome deconstruction of the gaming clothing industry. To piggyback on your idea I believe most video game collabs simply look at it as merch for a franchise and not its own unique piece capable of meaningful statement without context. To circle back on band tees as an example, a vast majority of most popular prints were built on a foundation of meaningful design that can be enjoyed without the context of the media it represents.
hypebeasts just moved over to branding collabs. If you are looking for a brand that had genuine inspiration from the games but utilized them in nice ways, Musterbrand did it for years especially with their Metal Gear clothing, something Kojima also approved of. I appreciate going into the jacket a bit with the differences with the j-91!
ACRNM back in the Gamer Fashion after designing Jensen's coat in DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED. I think I've mentioned it before a while back, but your note on Kim's DISCO ELYSIUM jacket reminded me; there's a good 'Clothes as Cyberpunk' article *Pants Scientists and Bona Fide Cyber Ninjas: Tracing the Poetics of Cyberpunk Menswear* that touches on the FALN techwear that Cuno wears (as well as DEUS EX above), it's a fun poke at the style, well worth the google / read. Kinda surprised no-one's done a FALN outfit (he says, immediately googling and seeing a lady in a modded FALN / ADIDAS longsleeve on an Etsy store) 😅
I'm a big CP2077 fan and I have 5 t-shirts from CDPR and I think they are of really good quality, the material and the prints continue to look great after many washes. The stuff they've made when the game launched were better designed I think (including the first release of the t-shirt you've shown) than the stuff currently in the store. Recently they've released again "V's favorite t-shirt" and "Samurai fan t-shirt", I bought them and I really like them as well. I wouldn't wear though any other replica clothes from the game, they are too eccentric for my taste. On the other hand games like Ghost Recon Wildlands and the Division made me change my dress style to urban tactical clothes, which are simply just better in every way than regular casual men's clothes.
I would recommend checking out a Japanese brand called Nonsense. They have great quality clothes for geeky things like anime. They have a Cyberpunk edge runners collab that’s actually fashionable and mostly affordable.
I would beat a moose for fashion that takes the games environments an blends them together in a abstract mural isk design all over the outfit like the Klonoa locations would be beautiful on a polo shirt or the opening an ending visuals from anime like those from the Bebop staff on jean coats would slap to
@@Dasso94 it's the new Carryology x Mystery Ranch Dragon 2.0! Will show it a bit more in a reel or something soon, very functional and sturdy bit of kit
@ damn since you’ve answered, care to do a backpack video? Specially for something of a functional and fashionable yet suitable enough for university? It’s a pain to get The holy trinity of price, functionality and fashionability in backpacks.
ant i need to see your elden ring invasion build. also on the topic of dressing like a video game character, as long as you keep it practical and dont go over the top i find it can still fall within the techwear parameters
I'm a filthy dex/arcane Eleonora's Poleblade user b/c I love the twinblade moveset 💪 some of my friends do much cooler stuff than me - MFs rocking up with the madness-only and jar cannon builds on the regular
@@ThisIsAntwon love it, darth maul vibes. I don't get to play much anymore, but I really liked a INT based Moonveil melee build. It was magic damage, but i rarely used ranged. My ranged options were more the throwables that scaled with magic damage. Caught a lot of people offguard expecting me to be a caster instead of a brawler
So I'm just gonna ad my two cents in here as a designer and branding minded person: The big reason that a lot of these collaborations fall flat is because the two things being juxtaposed don't really share anything other than a desire to make money. Take Minecraft and Louis Vuitton, what values or perspective do those two properties really share? (I'm sure you could massage it until it made sense but if you have to work that hard it's a bad collaboration). There has to be some alignment, some sense of a common story being told for it to be a good idea and not another slab of shameless "if I know it's stupid then it isn't stupid" Supreme-like brand nihilism. A brand like LV should respect itself and its legacy enough to not pander to gamers, and video game brands should respect themselves and their stories enough to not embrace the cynicism of brand nihilism, that doesn't mean no high fashion brand should ever collaborate with a video game, but it should be done with real intention, not in the hopes of being embraced through the cynical and nihilistic hype culture.
I was very infuriated by CDPR moving their merch away from designed pieces for Cyberpunk because they used to sell a pair of cargo trousers and a couple actually sick looking bombers. The gaming merch space is just extremely cursed rn I really do feel the sentiment of making gaming merch into an "experience" tho, I (unfortunately) pre-ordered Starfield for the watch, and despite the game's gaming qualities, I love how the watch came with the whole protective case and a patch that I've put on my messenger to show off, opening it for the first time really was something special. The watch wasn't really functionally worth the price but it look cool, I guess
ZA/UM will get you Kim Kitsuragi's pilot jacket hand made in Estonia for the low, low price of 400 euro... which sounds like a bit of a bargain compared to the Acronym jacket.
crazy to think gaming is a low brow type of entertainment when you are the one moving throughout the story. Theirs more interaction than movies its crazy.
It doesn't help that it's a much younger medium. Film was not widely respected in its infancy, and even the novel was looked down on as literature started becoming more widely available (from memory around the 17th century). Over time I think people will gain respect for what games can offer, and the list of games with interesting/unique perspectives, or games which have a legitimate claim to artistry, will grow.
i always thought that vintage promo gaming tees were cool simply because it seems like they used to put more effort into that stuff in the past and of course because i have nostalgia for it
To be fair there are good, affordable gaming clothing companies. Insert Coin is a prime example. Their Elden Ring shirts are pretty good! And I could see Antwon online one of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon bomber jackets. Quality is surprisingly good too. My Metal Gear Solid overshirt doesn’t look cringe at all and is still in great condition a decade down the line NGL my mouse has hovered over some of the Ark8 Elden Ring stuff more than once….
Uniqlo have made some good tees - Katamari Damacy, Animal Crossing, etc. They probably stand up well because they're not immediately recognisable and the cutesy style is less problematic. Anything serious and it loses my interest.
Despite the fact that I like limited runs and exclusivity, stuff like the DS J91 just bum me out, man. I have the capability, the desire, and the income to afford a 1700$ jack, hell I could do both colors AND I legitimately wear my clothes regularly however it just sells out in minutes and that's it. You're legitimately the only person even seen wearing it. It's a goddamn waste.
All this time and not a single piece of KH clothing 😭 literally one of the most swagged out game franchises along with FF and no one has remade the clothes from in game 😭
There is a "designer" watching this video on his second monitor as he carefully drags a logo he got off google on a white shirt before calling ti a day
Honestly, if you want good fashion based on franchises, you have to go beyond officially licensed merchandise and look at what fans are making. Some of the coolest pieces I've seen were sold in convention artists' alleys.
idk about the ai buuuuuuuuut you missed the greatest video game merch of all time, the Max Payne 3 Hawaiian shirt. Still available, well made, and a pre-existing design that fits seamlessly with the game's world
Shout out to Square Enix and Louis Vuitton for doing it first with FFXIII. Another one to Square Enix and Roen for doing it again with FFXV. A third one for Square Enix and Black Honey Chili Cookie for doing it again with Neo:TWEWY.
Have you taken a look at the clothing from Volante Design? They have licensed collections for Assassin's Creed, Devil May Cry, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Dragon Age.
Inser coin have always done (arw they should around?).authentic cool.and well made game clothing, the ishimura crew Ts and Issac engineer looking hoodie that zipped all the way up to look like his face visor were super cool and not isolated examples of their stuff.
You Should See Mihoyo clothing line for its games: Genshin, Honkai Impact/Star they are pretty cool and close to the characters but still somewhat expensive
Does anyone know any communities where people make it their mission to take inspo from gaming outfits to wear IRL? I know I've used Mirrors Edge as inspiration before and I'd like to share my creation
i think a key point is that gamers typically arent your most fashion forward consumer either. hoodies, sweatpants, tshirts all fit comfortably within most gamers wardrobe whilst more experimental exciting pieces will most likely scare off a significant portion of their consumer base.
I get that's the stereotype but gaming is SO popular now it really stretches across all sorts of demographics/interests. Sure more people are gonna want tees than crazy outerwear, but can't we at least have cooler tees 😭
Most people under 40 today play (or have played) videogames on a regular to semi-regular basis. That doesn't mean they consider themselves "gamers", though. That term is usually reserved for people whose favourite hobby is gaming. People who play a lot and also talk to other gamers on places like reddit. A lot of these people also play competitive games on a a level that is only achieveable by regular "training" (e.g. playing a lot). This is it's own subculture with it's own asthetics and codes. And those aesthetics are frankly horrible. I am a casual gamer myself and used to play a lot in my teenage years but I'd rather be caught naked than in any gaming related clothes.
fuck it imma make a hoodie with Radahn's mane
What abt something like cloud from advent children 🤔
This guy gets it
he made a good choice asking for your input on this topic!
BAM INSIDE OF THE JACKET IS LINED WITH RED FOR THE SCARLET ROT
I'm pre-ordering 😤
Just sell me Elden Ring armor you cowards
Raptor set NOW
Goldmask armor when.
theres a helmet its as close as you can get
none of us cam afford that shi lol
Its always been so contradictory to me how in nerdy hobbies like gaming and especially anime the characters in the media are often super fashion forward but the people who consume said media are notorious for dressing bad
JoJo's characters VS JoJo's viewers could not be a bigger divide
Final Fantasy being the first media franchise to be managed like a fashion brand, doing so for decades, and its fans don’t know shit about it
You're articulating so many of the gripes I've had over the years with merch, both gaming and anime stuff. Back when I was really into attack on Titan, I ordered one of those green cloaks they wear in the show, only to never wear it because it was cheap Halloween costume polyester haha
When it comes to gaming (or even movies) fashion trends, I'd much rather prefer it if the clothes (or really any other merch for that matter) I was wearing was IN-UNIVERSE clothing rather than just uninspired, bland and boring branded stuff.
I've always been so annoyed that they don't do things like the gym leader outfits from pokemon, or just clothes that characters would wear in general- kojima did things right with the death stranding collab but yeah I can imagine how expensive it must be to design that kind of jacket
A middle-ground totally exists but no-one seems to have really tapped into it yet
don't forget the MGS5 glasses, this wasn't the first time Mr. Kojima made something very cool and very expensive at the same time
Its not that expensive, they used Clo 3D to model the clothes of the characters in game which is the fashion industry standard for pattermaking, they just needed to export the pattern and make the grading. They are expensive to produce but the U$ 1700,00 are overcharging, they should cost around U$ 1000,00 and they could still make a very interesting profit
Being uninspired is the actual issue here. It’s really hard to buy cool fun merch for….anything at all, especially when “official” merch basically doesn’t exist, leaving others to pick up the slack, and unfortunately its most via lazy redbubble shirts.
That one Redbubble model an unwitting accomplice to so many crimes against fashion
tbh I'd personally rather take inspiration from a character I like (without it becoming full on cosplay) when putting a fit together than wearing officially branded clothing. LOWLuxury did a video about taking inspiration from movie characters in your style choices and I feel like the same could apply to video games as well
Totaly agree!
How am I only just finding out there was a GTA San Andreas Carharrt Jacket back in 2004?? Actually looks good
I had no idea! Very cool
@@ThisIsAntwon unfortunately I don't have the cash for '04 drip 😭
This jacket is perfect for Iceland waterfall photos
It's Acronym, so it can withstand Iceland, and it's orange, so it fits the photography cliche
But ofc it sold out while I was driving home, rip
Honestly I only got one because I got lucky reloading the Acronym site a day or 2 later - I think they had a couple of cancelled orders which they loaded back on. Would love to see it in an amazing setting like that!
i think reproduction pieces from game characters is the best way to do game clothes, since the fashion is direcly tied to character and world design, and the art medium means they're very much unique from any existing clothes. the pokemon gym leader clothing is a great example, so many gym leader pieces have unique color schemes or little lines and angles that make them resemble their pokemon or type. morty's scarf at 4:37 is a pretty simple piece, but the cut edge and red flame ends are unique details that make it resemble certain ghost mons. it could be worn up or down in many styles yet retains the design connections to the character. reproducing these kinds of pieces irl lets you show off a game's design aspects instead of just showing off an ip. the death stranding jacket is really cool, but such a big piece is gonna always be worn as "the death stranding jacket"
Also gives opportunities for entire "semi brands" to be madr
ngl i need me a good minecraft creeper hoodie.
He's *gulp* right behind me, isn't he?
Imagine a bape creeper zip up🤔
I think you made an excellent point in that game related clothing can be at its best when it takes inspiration from a game, or even a genre of games, rather than simply being minimum effort merch such as cheapo t-shirts with a simple logo printed on them. Probably the best example I've come across was a sweather that was made to look like a set of armour from the Witcher. In addition to looking vaguely like something Geralt would wear it was actually a decent quality sweater that was actually warm & comfortable.
Re: Pokemon, seriously, dumbass merch in japan for relative pennies has so much more character and inspiration than anything, ANYTHING related to pokemon released in the west, like creative use of pokemon designs, or clothes inspired by trainers and pokemon... I still daydream of owning a Raihan's jacket. But it's all stuck in Japan. Anywhere outside, It's Pikachu or Charizard for 34495th time. It's so disappointing.
Time to save up for a flight 😭
Such a great topic! Massive geek here, and I love a good licenced product, but I want something that comes from the universe itself, not a logo sticked on something. I want the clothes from Cyberpunk and not these disappointing t-shirts. The vest looks amazing on you btw!
I *SO* want one of those aerostatic crew jackets now . . .
I've recently been thinking a lot about having an orange/black puffy statement piece like this jacket cuz of an image from an anime I was inspired by. So this jacket seems cool asf to me. Definitely planning on buying it within the next decade when I finally get myself a well paying job.
I hope you succeed 🫡
Back in the day, I got an N7 Mass Effect hoodie. I think it was in 2012 when Mass Effect 3 was coming out. I got it through their own merch webstore. Had the N7 logo on the chest with the red and white stripe going down the side of one arm.
The cool thing about it was that the limited edition of the game had a code for that exact hoodie that your Commander Shepard could wear as a casual outfit.
The N7 merch was crazy popular, feel like I saw people wearing that all the time. Definitely a good early example of gaming-related clothes being passable as 'regular' clothing
So what you're saying is... we need to stock up on tacky graphic tees now so that when it becomes ironic, tasteful gamer merch in the future we can sell it for fat stacks of cash! Only then will we be able to afford the Kojima Acronym collab.
I'm bulk-buying the Radahn hoodies first 😤
I really wish gaming clothing was not just the game's mascot printed on some random tee or hoodie, even among "higher end" brands. So utterly boring and shows a complete lack of understanding, or rather, complete disconnect with only juicy pokémon €€€ or some such in mind.
It also reminds me of the opposite, when capcom did Nero and Dante leather coats as real-life premium leather jackets at 2.5k€, but the coats just didn't capture their in-game counterpart style-wise, even accounting for the fact that it's a game, etc...
bro Musterbrand was exacly this back in the day.
they made high quality "gaming gear" (fking stupid word) without printing CALL OF DUTY in Max Font on the back
i have some Metal gear stuff from them and you wouldnt know until you see the little XOF logo or other hints to the serie on the jacket.
Same goes with Portal 2 Hoodie.
It has the testing chamber warnings on the front, Apeture Science on the armsleeve and the logo on the back. but nowhere is standing PORTAL on it.
oh and they wherent like 2k for a shirt. maybe 20-500€ depending on what u want
Antwon I'm terribly sorry but I had to unsubscribe after seeing that you use the diamondback. Shame on you.
Understandable, have a nice day
I remember S.T.A.L.K.E.R. had some really nice merch that was basically just stuff the stalkers in the game might wear. Unfortunately I was a teen back then and couldn't afford those
What a cool game to have high-quality clothing from as well
I will say that Ubisoft was really ahead of the curve here by offering almost 1-to-1 official merch from assassins creed/watchdogs plus others, that probably wasn't anywhere near acronym quality but was very tech wear inspired. Unfortunately all that was shuttered like last year with the shutting down of the gear store.
Armored Core: Today we'll be talking about video game related fashion.
Me: By god, that's Owen's music!
Armored Core: With today's special guest, Owen
*crowd cheers*
I’ve always thought about this topic too! Gaming fashion theoretically could be cool. Totally agree with picking up vintage gaming tees, (it’s tough being a Nintendo fan because they were so stingy with their IP) but I do think there could be cool influenced pieces, but I also have thought about how the actual gaming experience could be translated into either accessories or gaming shoes. I’ve always thought gloves could be an interesting way to intersect that but I’m unsure how it could be “cool”
I’ve been watching your videos for a bit and got very excited at the idea of this one !! Then you randomly showed a clip of u running TF2 in 2024, I thought I was alone 😂😂 fire video and great clip man haha
Yes! TF2 will live forever!
I’ve bought some Mass Effect inspired gear from the BioWare merch shop. Mainly because the N7 logo along with the red, black, and white aesthetic feels like it works well as an athletic style brand.
games and fashion - back in the day i painted flames on one leg of my pants just like jin from tekken.
based
Did a similar thing,but took some old black sweatpant and drew the flame on one leg with bleach looks pretty cool ngl 😅
At the end of the day they're collectibles, I see no difference in that jacket from say a 2k usd Magic The Gathering card, a signed ball/tshirt from sport, sneakers, etc. Personally I've paid a premium for figures that are probably just a couple dollars in plastic but whatever, it's part of the collecting thing. If it doesn't harm you to spend that much money knock yourself out lol.
Nothing wrong with collecting stuff (and hey I'm a certified jacket hoarder) but the great thing about clothing is you get to wear it! If you want collectibles there's (right now) cooler gaming stuff imo.
the reverse happens as well: in Ghost Recon Breakpoint (😒) your character can equip branded gear made by 5.11 Tactical (😒) - a standard model referencing has always happened in game design but the 5.11 stuff has high fidelity but other items are visibly changed.
Notably the menu thumbnail for the 3-day Backpack resembles the Mystery Ranch 3DAP, whereas the in-game model does not... I'm not suggesting that 5.11 required Ubisoft to change the items to look less like those of other brands, of course.
That's super weird - guess there's all sorts of random brand deal stuff that goes on behind the scenes which we're not aware of. Would be sick to see more technical/tactical gear manufacturers show up in games like that, but giving the game designers freedom to make non-real version impossible irl
This is a tough stance because like gamer tees I always want to see anime tees have original artwork on it. Take a look at Hardcore Chocolate and their anime/game tees. A lot of them are original while staying core to the series. COSPA also does great anime tees as well.
Cool suggestions, thanks!
As an R.E. fan, I was surprised to find a Leon Kennedy edition Seiko 😳. Only featured in Death Island. Still pretty cool that it was in the movie. But $2600
@ThisIsAntwon yoooooooo not the point but shoutout you for putting aries in the video they're one of my favorite streetwear brands and theyre so underrecognized
Would you ever consider selling to me? I can’t find one anywhere and I’d love to get one for my cousin he’s a huge fan of the game. He’s been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and I don’t know if he will ever get to play the sequel. Let me know asap. Thanks!
Honestly, keeping it in the "graphic tee" type merch the supreme/yohji/tekken was peak and the NES pumas were really cool at the time, I dont understand why brands dont reference old school console color pallettes and the Y2K gaming logo style more often its almost always a hit
Gaming nostalgia feels like a better starting point - feels cooler to reference something from your childhood/history and older-gen art styles than whatever the hottest new AAA game is
Curious what you’d think of a collaboration like the online ceramics and silent hill collection? I thought those pieces really captured the spirit of the game with either screen grabs of the best moments of the games or something less obvious like the heavens night sign on the back of the shirt
Hi Antwon, what is your J58 size? Thanks!
@@pavloradich medium! Same as the J91
When i read the title i instantly thought of owenhyatt :D nice collaboration
Awesome deconstruction of the gaming clothing industry. To piggyback on your idea I believe most video game collabs simply look at it as merch for a franchise and not its own unique piece capable of meaningful statement without context. To circle back on band tees as an example, a vast majority of most popular prints were built on a foundation of meaningful design that can be enjoyed without the context of the media it represents.
You should definitely check out Volante Design, inspired by Assassin’s creed but has several pieces inspired by other games.
the fortnite balenciage hoodie was so absurd i just had to pick one up; i had to be on the right side of history
tbf I really see the ironic appeal of that and the PS5 launch merch
3:41 what, nobody saw the cyberpunk NONSENSE collab or the GCORES one that amiami sold at AX and on their website for a time?
May I ask what is that glasses you were wearing in the beginning of the video? Looks pretty dope.
Thanks! They're from J.F. Rey, who coincidentally also have a bunch of collab pairs with Kojima Productions
I see you with the Dragon 2.0! Any plans for patches for it?
hypebeasts just moved over to branding collabs.
If you are looking for a brand that had genuine inspiration from the games but utilized them in nice ways, Musterbrand did it for years especially with their Metal Gear clothing, something Kojima also approved of.
I appreciate going into the jacket a bit with the differences with the j-91!
ACRNM back in the Gamer Fashion after designing Jensen's coat in DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED.
I think I've mentioned it before a while back, but your note on Kim's DISCO ELYSIUM jacket reminded me; there's a good 'Clothes as Cyberpunk' article *Pants Scientists and Bona Fide Cyber Ninjas: Tracing the Poetics of Cyberpunk Menswear* that touches on the FALN techwear that Cuno wears (as well as DEUS EX above), it's a fun poke at the style, well worth the google / read. Kinda surprised no-one's done a FALN outfit (he says, immediately googling and seeing a lady in a modded FALN / ADIDAS longsleeve on an Etsy store) 😅
I'll check it out - thanks!
Thats a great read!
If i can ask what glasses you wearing in the vid they look so good!
The Cyberpunk 2077 bit hit harder for me. I would fucking love to own pretty much any of the in-game jackets or shoes. At least Machine56 isnt too bad
They're one of the better options rn for sure - would love to see someone take it further
Saw you at Westfield Stratford just now. What were you after?Did you find it?
I'm a big CP2077 fan and I have 5 t-shirts from CDPR and I think they are of really good quality, the material and the prints continue to look great after many washes. The stuff they've made when the game launched were better designed I think (including the first release of the t-shirt you've shown) than the stuff currently in the store. Recently they've released again "V's favorite t-shirt" and "Samurai fan t-shirt", I bought them and I really like them as well. I wouldn't wear though any other replica clothes from the game, they are too eccentric for my taste. On the other hand games like Ghost Recon Wildlands and the Division made me change my dress style to urban tactical clothes, which are simply just better in every way than regular casual men's clothes.
I would recommend checking out a Japanese brand called Nonsense. They have great quality clothes for geeky things like anime. They have a Cyberpunk edge runners collab that’s actually fashionable and mostly affordable.
I would beat a moose for fashion that takes the games environments an blends them together in a abstract mural isk design all over the outfit like the Klonoa locations would be beautiful on a polo shirt or the opening an ending visuals from anime like those from the Bebop staff on jean coats would slap to
4:47 Now I wanna print that Uncanny Sonic + Supreme logo on a t-shirt.
Time to phone up Sega + Supreme, it's what the people want
where did you got that backpack antwon?
@@Dasso94 it's the new Carryology x Mystery Ranch Dragon 2.0! Will show it a bit more in a reel or something soon, very functional and sturdy bit of kit
@ damn since you’ve answered, care to do a backpack video? Specially for something of a functional and fashionable yet suitable enough for university? It’s a pain to get The holy trinity of price, functionality and fashionability in backpacks.
Brands like Nonsense JP are doing this kind of proper fashion approach to Anime and Gaming too
Just checked them out - good suggestion, much better Cyberpunk stuff than on the official store
oh shit you got Owen on the vid? His gaming shirts are fire.
Best in the game!
I have the A.P.C. x Pokemon collab baseball denim cap and type 2 denim jacket. I love those pieces.
ant i need to see your elden ring invasion build.
also on the topic of dressing like a video game character, as long as you keep it practical and dont go over the top i find it can still fall within the techwear parameters
I'm a filthy dex/arcane Eleonora's Poleblade user b/c I love the twinblade moveset 💪 some of my friends do much cooler stuff than me - MFs rocking up with the madness-only and jar cannon builds on the regular
@@ThisIsAntwon love it, darth maul vibes. I don't get to play much anymore, but I really liked a INT based Moonveil melee build. It was magic damage, but i rarely used ranged. My ranged options were more the throwables that scaled with magic damage. Caught a lot of people offguard expecting me to be a caster instead of a brawler
So I'm just gonna ad my two cents in here as a designer and branding minded person: The big reason that a lot of these collaborations fall flat is because the two things being juxtaposed don't really share anything other than a desire to make money. Take Minecraft and Louis Vuitton, what values or perspective do those two properties really share? (I'm sure you could massage it until it made sense but if you have to work that hard it's a bad collaboration). There has to be some alignment, some sense of a common story being told for it to be a good idea and not another slab of shameless "if I know it's stupid then it isn't stupid" Supreme-like brand nihilism. A brand like LV should respect itself and its legacy enough to not pander to gamers, and video game brands should respect themselves and their stories enough to not embrace the cynicism of brand nihilism, that doesn't mean no high fashion brand should ever collaborate with a video game, but it should be done with real intention, not in the hopes of being embraced through the cynical and nihilistic hype culture.
I was very infuriated by CDPR moving their merch away from designed pieces for Cyberpunk because they used to sell a pair of cargo trousers and a couple actually sick looking bombers. The gaming merch space is just extremely cursed rn
I really do feel the sentiment of making gaming merch into an "experience" tho, I (unfortunately) pre-ordered Starfield for the watch, and despite the game's gaming qualities, I love how the watch came with the whole protective case and a patch that I've put on my messenger to show off, opening it for the first time really was something special. The watch wasn't really functionally worth the price but it look cool, I guess
My favorite so-close-yet-so-far collab was Palladium Boots and Destiny. It embodies the best and most vulnerable impulses of this genre of clothing
That Amiri x Wii sports shirt goes pretty hard though...just saying.
A similar video for animanga clothing would be really appreciated ❤❤❤
ah yep. cyberpunk and mirror's edge. felt that in my bones
ZA/UM will get you Kim Kitsuragi's pilot jacket hand made in Estonia for the low, low price of 400 euro... which sounds like a bit of a bargain compared to the Acronym jacket.
this got me thing of bomb rush cyberfunk clothing
cause its realistic but also out there in style
crazy to think gaming is a low brow type of entertainment when you are the one moving throughout the story. Theirs more interaction than movies its crazy.
It doesn't help that it's a much younger medium. Film was not widely respected in its infancy, and even the novel was looked down on as literature started becoming more widely available (from memory around the 17th century).
Over time I think people will gain respect for what games can offer, and the list of games with interesting/unique perspectives, or games which have a legitimate claim to artistry, will grow.
i always thought that vintage promo gaming tees were cool simply because it seems like they used to put more effort into that stuff in the past and of course because i have nostalgia for it
To be fair there are good, affordable gaming clothing companies.
Insert Coin is a prime example. Their Elden Ring shirts are pretty good! And I could see Antwon online one of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon bomber jackets. Quality is surprisingly good too.
My Metal Gear Solid overshirt doesn’t look cringe at all and is still in great condition a decade down the line
NGL my mouse has hovered over some of the Ark8 Elden Ring stuff more than once….
nice to know my worn out twilight pincess t-shirt ive had a decade is now considered as cool as some band tees lol
Uniqlo have made some good tees - Katamari Damacy, Animal Crossing, etc. They probably stand up well because they're not immediately recognisable and the cutesy style is less problematic. Anything serious and it loses my interest.
Despite the fact that I like limited runs and exclusivity, stuff like the DS J91 just bum me out, man. I have the capability, the desire, and the income to afford a 1700$ jack, hell I could do both colors AND I legitimately wear my clothes regularly however it just sells out in minutes and that's it. You're legitimately the only person even seen wearing it. It's a goddamn waste.
All this time and not a single piece of KH clothing 😭 literally one of the most swagged out game franchises along with FF and no one has remade the clothes from in game 😭
So true, crazy amounts of source material there. FFXV would fit right into my wardrobe
@ whenever I think about this, your the first person I think of to wear it 😭 you’d rock the hell outta those fits fr 🔥
There is a "designer" watching this video on his second monitor as he carefully drags a logo he got off google on a white shirt before calling ti a day
Knew you were a wise man, nice osrs tshirt 🔥 only gaming drip needed
Great video. And nice spy frags.
Also, for a fashion channel, I’m judging your Elden Ring fashion *hard*
ID on the backpack? Looks like Orbit Gear?
Honestly, if you want good fashion based on franchises, you have to go beyond officially licensed merchandise and look at what fans are making. Some of the coolest pieces I've seen were sold in convention artists' alleys.
idk about the ai buuuuuuuuut you missed the greatest video game merch of all time, the Max Payne 3 Hawaiian shirt. Still available, well made, and a pre-existing design that fits seamlessly with the game's world
Make a fort solis 2 and clothing collab. Shit would take off!
I want to wear the HEV suit from half life, pleeeeeaaaase Hamcus you can do it.
great video of course. I discovered two new brands I love.
All your spy credentials went down the toilet the second you used the Diamondback
Agreed, I thought it was a self deprecating bit
what is diamondback? most I could find was something about bikes :/
@@garynguyen4253 A gun in TF2, basically a broken weapon that rewards you too much for doing very little
It's true, I'm addicted to free crits
Volante Design has been making great gaming-inspired stuff too. Their DMC5 jackets are fantastic denim jackets and assassin's creed
Shout out to Square Enix and Louis Vuitton for doing it first with FFXIII. Another one to Square Enix and Roen for doing it again with FFXV. A third one for Square Enix and Black Honey Chili Cookie for doing it again with Neo:TWEWY.
Have you taken a look at the clothing from Volante Design? They have licensed collections for Assassin's Creed, Devil May Cry, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Dragon Age.
Some of the jackets are a little too costumey for me, but I do like the N7 Special Ops jacket from Mass Effect.
I checked on mercari and it's like 3500-4000 dollars
Disco Elysium mentioned 😤😤😤😤😤😤
PUBG did an entire crossover with FreshHoods which was super interesting but weird.
Inser coin have always done (arw they should around?).authentic cool.and well made game clothing, the ishimura crew Ts and Issac engineer looking hoodie that zipped all the way up to look like his face visor were super cool and not isolated examples of their stuff.
I saw they have some upcoming gear with Kojima Productions too 👀
You Should See Mihoyo clothing line for its games: Genshin, Honkai Impact/Star they are pretty cool and close to the characters but still somewhat expensive
Does anyone know any communities where people make it their mission to take inspo from gaming outfits to wear IRL?
I know I've used Mirrors Edge as inspiration before and I'd like to share my creation
i think a key point is that gamers typically arent your most fashion forward consumer either. hoodies, sweatpants, tshirts all fit comfortably within most gamers wardrobe whilst more experimental exciting pieces will most likely scare off a significant portion of their consumer base.
I get that's the stereotype but gaming is SO popular now it really stretches across all sorts of demographics/interests. Sure more people are gonna want tees than crazy outerwear, but can't we at least have cooler tees 😭
Kojima does the collabs pretty well overall. Between the jf rey frames and acronym clothing, its extremely well done.
Ark/8 is the new Musterbrand
I can’t remember if you mentioned it, but the XLIM x Diablo collaboration is one of the coolest I’ve seen these last years
I didn't see that when it released but looks sick! Great suggestion
Most people under 40 today play (or have played) videogames on a regular to semi-regular basis. That doesn't mean they consider themselves "gamers", though. That term is usually reserved for people whose favourite hobby is gaming. People who play a lot and also talk to other gamers on places like reddit. A lot of these people also play competitive games on a a level that is only achieveable by regular "training" (e.g. playing a lot). This is it's own subculture with it's own asthetics and codes. And those aesthetics are frankly horrible. I am a casual gamer myself and used to play a lot in my teenage years but I'd rather be caught naked than in any gaming related clothes.
My lord I have a mighty need for a Killing Floor '09 shirt.
@@101survivalist DOSH
@@ThisIsAntwon BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
I swear everyone has the neon puke xbox sex controller(me included)