Hypebeasts


A hype beast is a kid that collects clothing, shoes, and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing other (Urban Dictionary). One of the more popular brands in hypebeast culture is Supreme. Supreme retains artificial scarcity for products giving a reason for millennials to spend hundreds of dollars. Supreme’s founder has openly spoken about his company and disregard for basic supply to make the brand and products seem more exclusive. Norwegian economist Thorstein Veblen offers some insight into why kids constantly spend hundreds on what appear to be simple designer products. His concept of Veblen goods is goods for which demand increases as their price increases and his idea of conspicuous consumption defines the purchase of luxury goods and services purely to display one’s wealth and status. This is easily correlated to the definition of a hypebeast.

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