Concert tour merchandise has recently taken over the fashion industry. But is it really worth the hype and the expensive prices? Big name artists like Justin Bieber and Kanye West have made their merchandise very desirable and also fashionable. As a Belieber myself, I have been a sucker for buying a lot of Justin Bieber’s merchandise.
Justin Bieber’s Purpose Tour merch has been the talk of 2016. Everything in the collection is designed by Jerry Lorenzo, who started the high end clothing line “Fear of God”. Justin Bieber has even taken some of his pieces to Barney’s in NYC where the cheapest item is sold for $195 and the most expensive item is $1,675. At Barney’s, they were at first selling better quality versions of what he has sold at his concerts, but now they have started selling his concert outfits. Justin has opened pop-up shops in big cities all around the world and he makes his clothes exclusive to each shop in a variety of cities.
Kanye West has also changed the face of concert merchandise. His classic long-sleeve “The Life of Pablo” shirts were desired by every single Kanye fan. These shirts usually have his song lyrics on the back. Kanye has opened many pop-up shops all around the world for his “The Life of Pablo” line. He sells special shirts that have the city of the shop on the front and song lyrics on the back. And of course, every shirt of his has the same classic font. Ever since he has been on tour for the Saint Pablo Tour, he has released over 25 more items to his collection that have been very desirable.
Both Justin and Kanye’s shirts are the brand Gildan. The quality of the shirt isn’t the best, but of course that isn’t why people are buying them. For Kanye’s last tour, “Yeezus,”in 2013, he actually had a “Yeezus” brand for his shirts. Now, he has resorted to a cheaper option of buying a cheaper brand shirt and overpricing it. One of their long-sleeve shirts cost around $55. The brand for their sweatshirts are Champion and really good quality. One of their sweatshirts cost around $120. I do think that the clothes are overpriced but I also think that concert merchandise is in high demand. I can see why these clothes are so popular, especially to die-hard Bieber and Kanye fans.
