Swag as Praxis
May 18, 2022 4:06 PM   Subscribe

Can Labor Unionists Be Style Icons? John Elward has been documenting the stylishness of union workers on his Twitter account DrippedOutTradeUnionists and argues that "Drip can be very much an organizing tactic".

Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls wears his signature Eat the Rich jacket often, designed by streetwear brand Roku Studio.

Interview with Elward by Teen Vogue: When we get new drivers coming in, sometimes I'll pass out pins to them and it's like, “Oh, wow, union swag?!” Something as simple as giving somebody a Teamsters hat or some stickers, here's a shirt or a button, whatever — it makes these people feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. And it instills a sense of solidarity with like, Oh, wow, this guy cares about me. I'm part of a family.

Previously.
posted by toastyk (20 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
I am in a labor union but I don’t have any style, unfortunately.
posted by Whale Oil at 4:14 PM on May 18, 2022 [4 favorites]


One of the most stylish women I know is a union pipefitter. Her brooch collection is unreal.
posted by goatdog at 4:16 PM on May 18, 2022 [8 favorites]


Swaxis
posted by Going To Maine at 4:45 PM on May 18, 2022 [22 favorites]


I don’t think that eat the rich jacket is very good looking, but I also think that results speak louder than complaints. Good looking things for good causes is a good idea.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:45 PM on May 18, 2022 [3 favorites]


I didn't RTFA yet but I saw Chris Smalls on Desus & Mero (Showtime or youtube) recently and they asked about his clothes. He said he gets them at the mall.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:34 PM on May 18, 2022 [4 favorites]


Jorts the cat in a sweet Teamsters bomber jacket. (The image from this tweet is also in the feed from the DrippedOutTradeUnionists account linked above, but maybe you would like to go straight to the Jorts fan art.)
posted by the primroses were over at 5:54 PM on May 18, 2022 [8 favorites]


A lot of union swag **is** good looking. I love my teamsters jacket. Union stuff has cachet because you can't just buy it at the store, you have to join the union (or know someone in the union). It's part of the broader trend of how unions are "in" among the youth and that's a very good thing.
posted by subdee at 7:00 PM on May 18, 2022 [4 favorites]


This movement is making me so happy at a time when pretty much nothing else is. Please keep going.
posted by bleep at 7:21 PM on May 18, 2022 [5 favorites]




The CFMEU is known for amazing shirts and hoodies. For instance.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:25 PM on May 18, 2022


i covet the shirts i have seen from the taxi workers alliance and would buy at least one of anything i could get my hands on from los deliveristas unidos.

as an aside, i think the union-made merch from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also very drippy.

merch is a powerful conversation starter and a personal public billboard. More campaigns would be wise to harness this power. the sense of comradery that can come from having the same tshirt or jacket is very very real.
(....shudders remembering slideshows of insane trump rally merch)
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:50 PM on May 18, 2022 [5 favorites]


You know who else has great union swag? United Farm Workers. ¡Sí Se Puede!
posted by the primroses were over at 7:58 PM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


A lot of union SWAG is good looking? Good grief! When I grew up, there was a whole "look for the union label" advertising campaign on television, which I think was about clothing but might have been for general union stuff? Even me just typing that phrase has the jingle ringing in the heads of countless readers.

I remember "back in the day" (he said, clutching his walker, catching his breath, and sitting close to the edge of his lawn) when Walmart had an entire "Made In The USA" campaign, where they were advertising "we don't care if it's more expensive, we're going to sell products made here to support factories in the USA".

That... didn't last long. But I remember it.

The entire infrastructure of America used to be much more supportive of labor unions in general. And not that long ago. Like, in the 70s. Up until Reagan and the air traffic controllers [Planet Money, 22m listen, link to transcript with listen link] and then... support for anything involving local labor just evaporated.
posted by hippybear at 8:15 PM on May 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


Evy Dubrow was the real union style icon.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:16 PM on May 18, 2022


You've also got fake union merch like United Pixelworkers. It's mildly infuriating that part of their schtick is an implicit ha, imagine if tech people were unionized.
posted by zamboni at 8:24 PM on May 18, 2022 [5 favorites]


That... didn't last long. But I remember it.

Sam Walton was pretty Gung-ho on US made stuff. It wasn't until his kids took over that Walmart became synonymous with poor quality imported stuff.
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:29 PM on May 18, 2022


Not swag but I am in love with Tabitha Arnold's union supportive art.
posted by sepviva at 9:13 PM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


To me, "Drip can be very much an organizing tactic" sounds like someone afraid that they can't like fashion unless it also is a moral good. It's okay to like it for its own sake, my man.
posted by Merus at 11:11 PM on May 18, 2022 [3 favorites]


Agreed Merus. It's very, people who do good things are only recongised if they look nice and dress stylishly. It gives me a weird feeling.

That said, telling someone when they ask that you get your clothes at the shops is kind of a powerful message to me. It definitely makes Smalls seam more normal and down to earth.
posted by Braeburn at 11:33 PM on May 18, 2022


Where do i find one of those research is work t shirts
posted by PinkMoose at 10:47 PM on May 19, 2022


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