There is something timeless about urban fashion because it embraces the pop culture of the moment and, at the same time, remains faithful to its sporting and musical roots, which makes it one of the most enduring and beloved urban styles of all urban styles. Urban fashion was also heavily influenced by the early hip-hop fashion scene of the 80s and 90s. The most important item in urban fashion, sneakers, emerged from both hip-hop and basketball, two predominantly black subcultures. This relaxed sports-inspired style was an instant hit when rappers like Jay-Z, Snoop and Biggie became popular and athletes like Michael Jordan started selling sneakers.
Dapper Dan, a designer based in Harlem who created luxury urban clothing for hip-hop artists and influencers of color. Since not everyone can get hold of a pair of exclusive designer sneakers or afford to shell out a few hundred dollars for them, the fast fashion industry quickly jumped on the urban fashion bandwagon to offer customers deceptive and affordable products. Most of the major fashion brands, both luxury and mass-market, are changing their strategies to incorporate urban clothing. While women's outfits may come in smaller sizes than men's, a girl with an urban style can still choose to buy her outfits in urban clothing sizes for men.
Thanks to the worldwide popularity of K-Pop bands such as BTS and Blackpink, urban fashion is expanding their musical taste. Unlike most areas of fashion, urban clothing typically includes sizes, is gender-neutral, and is made or worn by people of color. And even on social media platforms, at least one in five posts with images is of people dressed in urban clothing. Urban fashion is one of the most striking retail and fashion trends that have emerged in recent years, since it involves the production, promotion, sale and resale of casual fashion in ways that avoid traditional retail channels.
Urban fashion grew out of the powerful cultural movements of the New York City hip-hop scene and Los Angeles skate teams. It is not surprising, therefore, that fashion brands have been betting on urban fashion in recent years. They produce most of the highest-value items in urban fashion, sneakers, which gives them incredible financial power in the urban fashion industry. There are pure urban clothing brands, while sportswear brands are developing their traditional sports equipment portfolio to turn it into a growing urban clothing portfolio with the concept of modern and modern sneakers and hoodies.
Culturally, today's urban clothing market has once again been dominated by small but influential brands. In essence, urban fashion involves the production, promotion, sale and resale of casual fashion, mainly footwear, such as sneakers, but also t-shirts and other items, in ways that avoid traditional retail channels and often subvert the way in which the fashion industry has long defined and dictated how “cool” becomes profitable. An example of the connection between urban fashion and pop culture can be seen through the various styles of music that influence urban style. Collaborations between luxury brands and urban clothing also began to lose their novelty as they became more common.
