However, Corrigan warns that with the reunion still nearly one year away, retailers should have a contingency plan for trends too niche or specific to the band and should particularly refrain from investing too heavily in licensed merchandise to avoid steep markdowns once the tour is over.
Lomas also notes that “they [Oasis] didn’t even really wear designer (bar the occasional Stone Island or Burberry) and instead offered a laid-back swagger even the top stylists couldn’t replicate — Northern authenticity.” For this reason, luxury brands who attempt to enter the market with no previous connection to it should be wary. “Oasis fans are a hardy bunch, and unlike a lot of micro trends, which are about adopting a lifestyle rather than living it, the brands who have more of a connection will always come out on top,” says Lomas. It’s why Northern-based brand Represent and longtime Oasis-affiliated brand Levi’s collaborations both made sense to Lomas.
“We’re definitely gonna see an uptick in luxury but utilitarian sportswear labels like C.P. Company and Stone Island that Liam and Noel have always worn,” agrees menswear podcast Throwing Fits co-founder James Harris. However, he’s more pessimistic, believing that “the main elements of bloke-core aren’t going anywhere anytime soon as lads around the world making an Oasis pilgrimage will need to cap off their multi-thousand quid expenses with a working-class inspired outfit.”
Regardless, it’s something that retailer End Clothing has been mindful of. “The culture that informs and inspires these trends is omnipresent; there’s a responsibility to protect it and not over commercialise,” says David Dover, brand marketing manager at the retailer. “We’ve understood and acted on this [UK subculture-based trends] with our strategic partnerships with the likes of Adidas, C.P. Company and Stone Island collaborations such as our SPEZIAL ‘By The Sea’ collection,” he explains, noting that they have long been embedding themselves in this space with meaningful and large-scale activations.
“The mod ethos was always ‘clean living under difficult circumstances’ and came under a time of great austerity, not too dissimilar to what we’re living in today,” says Lomas. “All of the styles mentioned above are modular, so can be easily played around with, without having to make a full U-turn overnight,” he continues, so even if Oasis fever eventually cools down (although that might be some time away), these pieces should be “a staple of any man’s wardrobe”.
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