An interesting story about Hollister clothing's origins

[Bunyip]

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this, but when I see someone wearing 'Hollister' I immediately think about a biker gang story and film.
Me, when I first came across Superdry, I thought it was rain wear for outdoor sports. Also, I have a mate who thought Von Dutch was a Japanese clothing designer.
J

I immediately thought of the biker story too. I don't even know if it's available in Australia. When I hear SuperDry, I think of beer, not clothing. I did see some Super Dry kit recently in a Department store. It was all really undersized and didn't do much for me...It's an interesting discussion all the same.

 

[Monitor]

Back to the subject. Despite the cockn'bull story, I would not be surprised if the Hollister name was really chosen because of the 1947 Hollister riot. The rebellious sub culture connection.

That would be somewhat ironic, since the Hollister riot legend is just as bogus.

 

[Big J]

Oh wow! I just got to get me a sweatshirt with 'Hollister' in four inch letters written across the front, because nothing says authentic vintage like the latest mass produced in China, this seasons 'trend', crap.

 

[Big J]

As for Super Dry, I thought some Indian heritage guy in the UK set the whole thing up. The 'Japanese' kanji characters that appear on their products are often not real characters. The English is 'Japlish'; try putting something into google translate, then copy-pasting the translation, and translating it back to get bad English.

If I spoke to Japanese people in a mock imitation of some Japanese people's bad English, it'd be kind of racist, I think (kind of like saying 'Me so solly!'), so I really don't understand why this brand hasn't been shamed yet.

 

[Stand By]

SuperDry Jpn sounds a whole lots betterthan the truth : SuperDry Cheltenham

Ha!Ha!Ha!
Yeah, doesn't quite have the same ring to it …! Funny.

 

[Stand By]

When I was at school in the early 1970's there was an anti brand thing mostly with jean labels happening. One had to remove the leather label patches from ones jeans to avoid humilation and or a beating. If you came to school with new jeans wth the patch still attached, you would be stalked and jumped on by about a half a dozen toughs who would rip it off your jeans and if you resisted you got extra treatment. The only acceptable branding was the small tabs on rear jean pockets and on western Miller or Wrangler type shirt pockets. Most of the fashionable must wear clothing then was unbranded anyway.

Flippin' 'eck! Tough school!

 

[Stand By]

Oh wow! I just got to get me a sweatshirt with 'Hollister' in four inch letters written across the front, because nothing says authentic vintage like the latest mass produced in China, this seasons 'trend', crap.

lol

 

[Stearmen]

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this, but when I see someone wearing 'Hollister' I immediately think about a biker gang story and film.
Me, when I first came across Superdry, I thought it was rain wear for outdoor sports. Also, I have a mate who thought Von Dutch was a Japanese clothing designer.
J

Please, there were no biker gangs at Hollister in 1947, the gangs came along in the late 50s! What you had were groups like the Boozefighters, comprised of WWII veterans, who liked to drink and some times fight, but mostly, they just wanted to go real fast on their motorcycles, without organizations like the AMA telling what to do. If you look at the arrest records, it is tamer then what happens during Bike Week at Sturgis every year! The local police even blocked off part of main street for the riders to have fun on their motorcycles.

I like this photo, I can just hear the officer, "now son, you're going to have to slow that thing down now!"

Here are the original Boozefighters. The man in the middle with the big mustache, is Jim Smith, said to be the real inspiration for Lee Marvin's "Chino."

 

[Stanley Doble]

A few years ago I saw the pictures of the Hollister "riot" in uncropped, unedited form. When you see the whole picture it becomes obvious they were faked up and posed for effect. I expect the boys thought they were posing for 'gag' pictures, and were surprised when Life magazine made them into anti heroes.

http://www.salinasramblersmc.org/History/Classic_Bike_Article.htm

https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/hollister-riots/

 

[Edward]

That would be somewhat ironic, since the Hollister riot legend is just as bogus.

Bazinga!