|
Every so often, I'll find myself clicking on over to the Urban Outfitters website. Not that I'm much of a shopper there. Oh, hell no. In fact, I've always been very outspoken about my distaste for the store, catering to wannabe hipsters, high school and college students with daddy's credit card who want to look like cool poor starving artists (when I lived in New York City, we referred to it as NYU Outfitters). No self-respecting honest-to-god truly indie-minded kid would ever actually shop there for the cheaply-made overly-price thrift shop knock-offs. And seriously, how hip can a company really be when their online blog features bits about Lindsay Lohan and Rachel Zoe? Not very.
But to be honest, I do like to check out the goods of the Urban Renewal section. Trying to align itself with the booming arts-n-crafts movement as well as attempting to attain some street cred, Urban Renewal is the in-house brand of reconstructed vintage and DIY-looking togs. And since modified and redesigned vintage is part of what I do, I would check back often to see what UO was churning out.
Needless to say, in June when I saw the posting that exclaimed "Be a part of the Urban Renewal Artist Customized Series", I was intrigued.
Encouraging clothing artists and designers to submit their work, Urban Outfitters was looking for a few good artists to add their own touches to some sweaters under the guise of the Urban Renewal label. They'd then honor their favorite 20 artists by allowing them to customize a batch of cardigans for the holiday season. You'll receive monetary compensation for your work, yes, but most importantly, you'll get your very own bio with a link on the Urban Outfitters website, which they boasted as tons of free publicity for your business. So like a fish looking at a fat worm on a hook, I bit. Sent some photos of my work on the Friday deadline. Monday I get the email, "Do you want to participate?" Absolutely! I could really use the publicity and even though the pay pretty much sucked ass ($8 a sweater and that included the artist's materials) I thought my time spent would pay off in droves once I got plugged on the website.
So most of August I spent behind the sewing machine, cutting fabric, ironing, buying metallic threads, cutting fabric, etc etc. I admit, I was very weary about the whole thing as it progressed. $8 a sweater, sheesh...was I crazy? I envisioned my head looking like a giant sucker, like in the old Tex Avery cartoons. I kept reminding myself, "It's all for the publicity". Urban has a terrible reputation for ripping off independent artists so I thought this was their way of making amends by giving a bunch of independent artists some breaks. Yeah right.
Two weeks ahead of deadline, I shipped my 100 sweaters back to the Urban Outfitters headquarters and received a good response from the head of the project. A few weeks later, my $800 check arrived. But as I checked the Urban site often to see when the bios were going up, I got nothing. And as it got closer and closer to the holidays, a sick little feeling started to grow in my stomach. So I emailed Urban Renewal manager Dayna Haley, "What's going on with the bios and links?" She replied that they were no longer doing that and "decided
to only feature the 3 designs that were chosen for sale on our website". And as it turned out, all of these so-called "winning designers" already have ties to Urban (two work in UO stores and the third has a line of t-shirts on UO racks). Um, favoritism much?
So wait a second, I worked my butt off, completing 100 sweaters for $8 a pop (including materials!) and I don't even get my free plug?!!! "Your sweaters are among the top sellers," I was also told. Well jolly good for me! I can totally sleep well now that I know I helped your company make money and you guys couldn't even hold up your end of the bargain which would have cost you NOTHING. And to add insult to injury, they gave the sweaters a $68 price tag. Nice little profit margin there.
So after being incensed for about a week, I just came to the realization that companies like Urban Outfitters will never change. Heaven forbid they actually do something nice for someone. But at least now you can add my name (and a whole lot of others) to the list of young creative people whom they've disrespected. And with cats like Johnny Cupcakes, Crown Farmer, and Princess Tina on that list, at the very least I know I'm in good company.
Above is a sample of the customized sweaters I did under my 28 Crash! label.
CLICK HERE TO SHOP FROM THE SOURCE
|
