Who are they? Streetwear Kids.
What are they? Over the past five years, scores of kids as young as 13, all the way through to adults in their mid-twenties, have allied themselves with high-end streetwear brands like Palace and Supreme. It was a fairly niche obsession that's become a youth phenomenon, with hundreds of heads camping outside the front of London stores whenever a new line is launched. Primarily, it's an online culture; sharing looks to an audience of thousands on Instagram is nearly as important as the clothes themselves, and many of the scene's players put as much energy into maintaining their social media presences as they do their wardrobes.
What are they? Over the past five years, scores of kids as young as 13, all the way through to adults in their mid-twenties, have allied themselves with high-end streetwear brands like Palace and Supreme. It was a fairly niche obsession that's become a youth phenomenon, with hundreds of heads camping outside the front of London stores whenever a new line is launched. Primarily, it's an online culture; sharing looks to an audience of thousands on Instagram is nearly as important as the clothes themselves, and many of the scene's players put as much energy into maintaining their social media presences as they do their wardrobes.
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Pivotal to the movement is The Basement, a Facebook group which became an 65,000-strong community. Members discuss looks, compare outfits and sell items. Which brings us to the final crucial component of streetwear culture: reselling. In order to fund their expensive habits, many of the teens and young adults involved resell many of their items – a thriving micro-economy taking place on Instagram, Facebook and resale app Depop. Whether impressively entrepreneurial or worryingly materialistic, one thing is certain: 14-year-olds have never dressed so well.
Emmanuel, 18 (Photographed)
Feifei Fu, 20
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Luca, 13
Chariza, 23
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I'm at secondary school now, but I'm not rating it too much. It's great for some people, but the way it's designed gives more creative or independent people more limitations than it should. From what I've heard, I fuck with Swedish schools. I've always had a general interest in fashion and design. Streetwear is just the subculture of fashion I'm currently in. I think the reason it attracts so many young people is the lack of hierarchy. In high end fashion there seems to be this stuck-up inner circle attitude that isn't in streetwear. It's more open. I may not quite be on the inside of the industry, but fashion consumes a large portion of my time. I'd say The Basement is, for the most part, responsible for this. If you don't know what the Basement is, it's basically an "underground" fashion community, but it's evolved into so much more. Man, it's so hard to explain the depth of what The Basement really is in words – there's so much to it. It's like a huge family. A fucking huge, 65,000-person family.I don't really enjoy things like Instagram. I don't really have a big online presence, and I don't really spend that much money on clothes. The reselling side has definitely taken over the online scene. I first started to notice that last winter, I think. There was suddenly a boom in the interest in streetwear, and of course when something gains popularity it also gains a monetary worth. I like the discussion element of it way more than the selling. It's a view on fashion that you don't get from a publication, and that you could never get from a publication, because of the people who post in the groups. The keys to the groups are the members and the posts. Some people don't like the fact that "everyone is wearing Palace now", because it's their brand or whatever, but I think it's sick. It's sick that young people – people my age and younger – are bonding over something. We all like the same clothes and we're friends because of it. That's really nice. I think it's really unique. It's the thing right now.
Sam, 14
Lucy, 20
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Jamie, 21
Ezra, 21
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Ethan, 14
Sophie, 17
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Additional reporting by Marianne Eloise.@a_n_g_u_s / @CBethell_photo / @marianne_eloiseMore on VICE:Why Are So Many People So Obsessed with Supreme?How Women Made Streetwear Their OwnThe 14-Year-Olds Spending Thousands On Streetwear