Political Fashion Is In Vogue

Richmond Times

By Olympia Meola

Published:  August 4, 2008

Hyperlink: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-08-04-0134.html

Jamela Williams likes Hannah Montana and Sen. Barack Obama. She has little black T-shirts for both.

The senior at Virginia Commonwealth University is a style-conscious 21-year-old, and when she chose a political candidate to back, his world had to mesh with hers. Staid campaign buttons just weren't very . . . Jamela.

Like the fashionable Hollywood darlings wearing politics on their sleeves, Williams is among the 18to 34-year-olds diving into politics and driving the sale of merchandise as individual as they are.

One online retailer, Café Press, has sold more than 500,000 pieces of accouterment for Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, 1.73 million pieces for Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee, and 854,000 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to its tracking system.

"This is the first year I've seen political gear become a fashion statement," said Café Press spokesman Marc Cowlin. "It's almost hip to wear your political candidate."

Chalk up the product placements to a few factors, retail market researchers say. Obama has drawn more young -- and thereby often more trend-conscious -- voters into the political mix, relating to many through his references to college loans and pop culture.

Stores, facing dismal sales, are looking to cash in. Overall, political merchandise accounts for a small piece of the retail market. But sales at mall-based retailers are down between 10 percent and 14 percent on average nationally and the presidential contest is a chance to sell, said Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, based in Charleston S.C.

Among the skinny jeans, rumpled jackets and faux hawks milling around the Urban Outfitters at Short Pump Town Center sit piles of presidential T-shirts. There's the bionic-eyed Obama with "I'll be Barack" written on it, another with: "Obama says knock you out." At one point the store carried a "Bill for 1st Lady" T-shirt.

Even pet stores are selling donkey and elephant chew toys.

"Even though it's a small opportunity in a short window, some retailers are going to take advantage of it to draw shoppers into their store for the first time," Beemer said. "This year's a little different, and of course when you're a battleground state, you're going to see more focus on [those] states too."

Add to those factors the au courant starlet endorsements -- reality star Kim Kardashian wore an "Obama is my homeboy" T-shirt; actress Scarlett Johansson said she was "engaged to Barack Obama;" Heidi Montag of MTV's "The Hills" declared she was voting for McCain.

"The youthful Obama campaign combined with his many high-profile celebrity endorsements has moved the 2008 election into the world of pop culture, art and fashion," said Paige Newman, associate editor of the Hot Sheet for The Zandl Group, a New York-based consumer trend research agency.

Newman's group has noted throughout the election cycle that more young people are interested in politics than in previous years. In the last two months, 44 percent of their panelists from ages 18 to 24 mention politics and the election as usual topics of conversation with friends -- up four-fold from 2004, Newman said.

"Additionally, with online retailers such as CaféPress.com allowing consumers to customize and sell their own T-shirts, the volume and diversity of the political fashion statement is growing."

Shepard Fairey, known best for "Obey Giant" street art, created the "Obama Hope" poster. He shows pictures of stars wearing the image on his Web site, where a hoodie with the image on it is available for $60. A limited-edition signed print is fetching $2,000 on eBay.

Carytown's Bang-On, which specializes in transferring custom or stock images onto shirts that sell for $25, has sent about 50 shirts emblazoned with Obama's face out the door in the past six months.

Predesigned Obama and Hillary Clinton prints were popular in the heat of the Democratic primary battle and after a lull, sales of Obama images have picked up again in the past few weeks, said store owner Chuck Mugler.

He's banking on the trend continuing; more Obama mugs are on order.

"The John McCain and Hillary [slower sales] are probably more because the people who come in here tend to lean to a younger crowd and tend to be a Barack supporter," he said. "I don't get too many middle-aged white Americans, or Republicans for that matter."

GOP merchandise is moving online, according to CaféPress.com, which lets users design merchandise that's then available to any other user. The site has been tracking sales of its merchandise on the 2008 presidential race since November.

In the past week, McCain merchandise accounted for 15.6 percent of all presidential item sales; Obama for 66.87 percent; Clinton for 10.29 percent.

Sales for other candidates are also tracked on the site. Cowlin noted that the best-selling merchandise is pro-candidate. In 2004, items were mostly related to President Bush, and they ran about half pro-Bush and half anti-Bush.

He can't determine if overall sales are significantly more robust this year than in 2004 because, among other things, the site has grown significantly since then.

Williams, the VCU senior, snapped up her Obama T-shirt from a street vendor in her hometown of Washington.

"Young people are more likely to show their interests and their style. We're more open about expressing what we support," she said.

"Older people won't even tell you who they voted for most of the time. If I support someone, I'll show you."
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.