Talking about the Palace Consumer

Palace has been and is one of the biggest streetwear brands for the past decade, it’s more UK based and consumed but this doesn’t stop the likes of Dover Street Market taking it on and one of the main consumers is their Japanese following. Showing that this stand-offish and crude attitude does work and can travel through multiple cultures. Palace has the streetwear uniform on lock and is part of every streetwear fanatics wardrobe, anyone who’s anyone in the modern streetwear game has donned a Tri-ferg tee at least once in their life no? Just me? Fair enough…

Palace’s consumer are part of this hypebeast market, that see’s the £££ behind an item and not necessarily the fashion value of it, which is similar to that of Supreme and the likes of Jordan sneakers. This market is very much dependent on collecting and building up a portfolio if you like, of sneakers and items that can be shown on Instagram or other socials, revolving around the idea of being part of culture for the visual satisfaction for others. An online article described Palace as “a brand that is in it for the long haul. While its core skate roots and unmistakably gritty video style will no doubt ensure it retains a strong following among skaters, past seasons have seen the brand grow much bigger. The interior for their London flagship store is ostentatious and over-the-top. It is a brick-and-mortar embodiment of the Italian designer gear that the UK’s garage scene was so fond of.” (Lange, 2020). This refers to a London centred sub-culture similar to terrace culture within football that started in the 80’s and 90’s. This culture of rebellion and anti-establishment could be linked to the late 70’s also, with the punk movement that arguably began streetwear in the UK, Palace has used this to create a brand that shows attitude and a sense of humour that would be described as distinctly British.

If we looked at who consumed Palace at a statistical level, we understand that it is worn by the younger generations in particular, with famous hip hop musicians and influencers of the younger generations wearing Palace, “it’s spotted on the backs of hoodies worn by suburban teenagers, on shirts worn by Jay Z, on boys staring at the big screen in pubs, on the dancefloor of gay clubs and, in 2014, on England shirts produced by Umbro.” (Cochrane, 2016). This shows us that Palace is spread within youth culture. Palace is a part of a code within streetwear itself, having a very ‘if you know, you know’ feel, this means that Palace carries weight within the scene meaning that if you wear it, there’s a high chance you know exactly what you’re doing when it comes to streetwear and fashion in general. Supreme had this status many years ago, but the brand then became very mainstream and most of the statement pieces we see from Supreme are well, just not that cool anymore. Palace haven’t reached this mass market yet and haven’t dropped quality or exclusivity in recent years, collaborations with the likes of Reebok and Stella Artois show an in touch and remembrance to where they came from and the culture that helped launch the brand.

Palace consumers are the young and outspoken within the streetwear scene, usually donning Palace with Stone Island, CP Company, Reebok and other classics within UK sub-culture, a new code that has evolved and changed from Adidas Gazelle’s to Stan Smith’s and a Tri-Ferg. With an interest in streetwear, modern and vintage, there is no denying that Palace is part of the complicated and intricate streetwear uniform of today.

When it comes to marketing Palace in the metaverse, the approach I want to take in within NFT’s and the collection aspect potentially, lending in to the collectable aspect of todays streetwear culture, looking at how people invest a lot money in to hobbies and ‘side hustles’ nowadays. This could be visualised as Tri-Ferg art, or a collection of digital clothing in virtual or augmented reality.