To the Mass-Marketing Gurus at DA.
Swell. Forty years ago, we were scumbag baby-burners.
Today, we're a farking fashion statement.
I am sooooooo glad I got out when I did...
--Bill
Evidently, they're looking for an edge into that vast, untapped market -- fashion-conscious twelve-year-olds.A Sears corporate press release quotes an unnamed Army spokesman extolling the new line for melding the “Army’s timeless traditions with iconic styling.” And following the Republican convention, the fashion blog Haute Concept added this note: “Now gun-toting soccer moms like Sarah Palin [can] get all their fight gear with one stop!”
“Strong brand identification through retail sales of products potentially can enhance the Army’s recruiting efforts and the public’s general goodwill towards the Army and its activities,” the Army said in its statement Monday evening. “The various marks can help build unit pride and esprit de corps, raise public awareness of the Army, support its recruiting effort.”
Robyn Kures, a Los Angeles-based spokeswoman for the fashion launch, said “every tag, label, design and final product sample must be approved by the Army before it is sold.”
“The apparel is inspired by the rich tradition of the U.S. Army; there are no political statements, just high-quality and high-style apparel,” she said. “All American Army Brand will roll out several collections, consisting of a range of styles and silhouettes, from T-shirts, hoodies, henleys and denim to knits and outerwear.”
Swell. Forty years ago, we were scumbag baby-burners.
Today, we're a farking fashion statement.
I am sooooooo glad I got out when I did...
--Bill
http://www.westpointgiftstore.com/ePOS?store=465&item_number=W40269&form=shared3%2fcatalogs%2fcommon%2flarge_image_popup.html&design=465&__session_info__=GSwNF1J26%2fK6FG9Qe%2fq1bKZ3IsTBwvT9HttVp5qJb4U4NeYXTqJWgqEsWACG256u%2b%2fg%2fraeepbQZJmdc6votVBn7DY0051Cz
I am one of those combat vets. I even have the patch tattooed on my arm.
Assholes in the upper echelons are farking clueless.
BTW, does anyone else see the contradictory irony in a Marxist revolutionary having become a Western capitalist fashion icon?
They just happen to have been bought at CANEX shops instead of Sears or Zellers or such (except the RCAF cap - that was produced privately).
Besides, what bugs me more is seeing actual uniform items that some punk picked up at a surplus store and is wearing ripped and cut up as a fashion statement. But that's been happening for years, too.
As long as money goes back to the soldiers, what's the big deal with having yet another retail outlet for your brand - since you're already selling it anyway?
Unit sales of unit-specific items go directly to the unit fund -- I've contributed to a couple of cookouts for the 29th ID and my old Guard unit by purchasing a hat or a T-shirt. In this instance, the money isn't going back to the soldiers -- it's going to Sears. The Army is only getting a percentage of the net, and if a single penny ends up in an MWR account, I'll kiss a goat on the lips on the 50-yard line of the Rose Bowl at half-time.
Sure, the Lefties co-opted uniform items -- they used them both as talismans to give themselves an aura of derring-do and as statements to mock those of us who wore them "on the job." Just because they did it -- and continue to do it -- doesn't make it right. Good men died for those patches -- not the pieces of cloth themselves, but for what they represented. They were something tangible that expressed something intangible. A spirit. A kinship with those who shared what you shared in the fight and in life. And a kinship with those who could no longer share in the fight or in life.
You want to dress in overpriced cammies with a Sears label on your ass?
Go ahead.
You want to wear a designer flight suit with color-coordinated zippers and a cutsie dogtag logo for a pulldown?
Be my guest.
Leave my damn patch alone. You didn't f*cking earn it.
Don't forget the Versace scarf that goes with the designer flight suit...beeatch.
Your last line is a keeper, BTW.
This way the Army has control over what is being sold- they have no control over most retail outlets selling "Army" gear. Sears also does a lot on behalf of our military and sponsor various public assistance projects, including "Heros at Home". I am hopeful that the profits from these items will go toward these projects. Read more here: http://www.searsholdings.com/communityrelations/hero/military.htm