Pacsun Research Paper

David Pulido

Instructor Maroudas

English 103- Critical Thinking and Writing

11 December 2105

Pacsun: Mainstream Grassroots Consumerism It always feels fun to be a part of the newest trend. There is none other who enjoy it more so than young consumers. They usually want to be a part of the latest social media trend, or what their friends consider cool. However, what they take the most serious is clothes. Usually, young consumers want to wear the latest and craziest style of shirts and pants to express themselves. There is no other store happier to provide these latest clothes than the popular retail store Pacsun. They lead in being one of the most recognizable and go-to places for young consumers that want to get the look that everyone is wearing.

For centuries, people have always had a subculture that sought to go against the norm. The early nineteenth century had Romanticism. The later nineteenth century had Bohemianism. The nineteen sixties and seventies had hippies. Today, there are hipsters. However, the difference between all the past counter-cultures and today’s counter-culture are that they did not start out mainstream. Usually, a subculture did not become mainstream until enough people recognized it. For example, Hippies originally made their signature tie-dye shirts by hand rather than buying them from a store. It was not until the fad caught on that bigger stores like Wal-Mart started to sell tie-dye shirts. Unlike those subcultures, today’s hipsters acquired their style and attitude from Pacsun or other stores like it from the start of their culture. They did not create their expressive style. Rather, they bought it from stores like Pacsun. From this fact, Pacsun’s true motive is revealed to not be the promotion freedom and youth just for the sake of it. Rather, they mainly seek

However, James Hammond describes it well in his book Branding Your Business how, “Brands represent much more than a factual, rational connection to the product or service.” (Hammond) He says, “They go beyond the boundaries of reason and extend into relationships.” (Hammond) This makes much sense because the youth of today have a relationship with Pacsun and see it as more than just a store that sells clothes. They see it as the cool hangout that always has the latest and trendiest clothes. Rather than sticking with one specific style, Pacsun is always updating its merchandise to fit the current trends. In the end, it does not matter for young consumers whether the store has their own brand of the clothes or not. All they care about is whether they carry the style they are looking for or not. That explains why the store always the strangest yet trendiest clothes. Whatever the normal look is, Pacun’s consumers know they can look to the store to shop for the opposite