Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
Listen, I remember being ’bout 13, 14 years old and one of the LAST brands you wanted to have on was Champion. Chile, if you had on Champion, everybody knew ya mama had taken you to Walmart to buy your new clothes. And Lord knows you didn’t want to have on a Champion tee with Etonic sneakers (E-what? EXACTLY!). For the record, I did wear Etonic sneakers in my childhood, and they were very comfortable. *insert face palm* Sure you still had on new clothes, and I know that’s a blessing, but listen….you wouldn’t have won the award for the most fashionable. That was back in my day…and it’s crazy to me that I’m now old enough to use THAT phrase (but chile it’s a blessing to age!). In my teenage years (in the early 2000’s), you couldn’t be seen as a fashionista or as a dude with swag if you thrifted some cool stuff and had your own personal style. We gave you points for standing out and being an individual, but for that we would say, “Oh they different…” For us, “cool” was wearing name brands…and baby, Champion won’t it!
BUT *clap* BAY *clap* BEEEE *clap*! I love a good comeback story. Why do you think I’m a Christian??? More on that later…Imagine my surprise when 2 years ago my oldest nephew expressed that he wanted Champion gear for Christmas. Chile, ’bout knocked my socks AND my shoes off! I was obviously out of touch with the young people. I started asking my friends how long this had been a thing…they responded by letting me know it had been around for a lil’ bit. Champion was back! “How did this happen?!?!” When we were younger, we didn’t want to be caught in Champion if it was the last T-shirt available in the store for the first day of school! “I’ll just rock old clothes and tell everybody that some celebrity said that we should all be less of a consumer and that capitalism is wrong”…I mean that’s what my college-aged self woulda said but my high school self would have just tried to get the neighbor to let me help them with yard work for money so that I could buy a name brand shirt from another store across the STATE.
A Champion sweatshirt that you could buy for $20 TOPS I’m sure back in the day was now selling for at least $70. I couldn’t believe it! I had to call my brother who is my style consultant for all things urban. It was in fact true. Champion was “that dude”…again apparently.
So, first things first, I didn’t know that the brand started over 100 years ago. I also didn’t know that it had been “popular” before. I grouped it in the same bin in my mind as I treated the songs you would hear in the elevator…for a long time I didn’t even think of those as real songs…but obviously they are! And apparently the revival that I’d witnessed in 2019 started at least 2 years before. I read an article about it in Esquire. Definitely check that out! (Shouts out to Miles Raymer for writing the article!)
And of all of the companies…how did SARA doggone LEE end up acquiring it?!?! I was like, “The CAKE LADY?!?!?!” Listen, this just proved to me that you can diversify and create multiple streams of income in the Western world. DANGGGG.
Back to my love of comeback stories though. I love a good story of somebody counting someone out and that someone comes back in a big way. That’s one of my favorite parts of the story of Jesus coming back to life after 3 days! Sure I love that His life, death, burial, and resurrection gave me access to a relationship with God, literally saving me from having to spend eternity separated from God when I die, and the promise of living forever (in addition to great hope and power on earth!). At the same time though, because ya girl loves a good story, I will forever think that it is a #BOSSMOVE to say “Aye, kill me and I’m comin’ back in 3 days”…and then actually do it! I love this more than you know, dear Reader…more than you know!