Fake Heritage: 2nd generation authenticity
I’ve been banging on for years now about how authenticity isn’t enough of a driver to entice people to buy things. Authenticity, honesty, transparency, heritage, tradition are what you need to focus on and communicate if you’re trying to help people self-actualize or become more of who they want to be. So where do you go when you run out of heritage brands to pillage? You go into the Unreal and invent some new ones.
Like so many things, Fake Heritage is a phenomenon that began in the hipster trenches of Portland, Shoreditch and Brooklyn but have crept into the mainstream. You’d be forgiven for assuming these brands had just been around for decades. Their graphics look like distilled visions of the 20th Century. Who knew that they were all invented in the last 8 years?
Brands such as Murdock, Hendricks Gin, Rapha, Aubin & Wills, William Fox & Sons, Best Made Co., are just a few brands that have trade on the look and values of a time gone by. There are, afterall, only so many Kiehl’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, Brooks Saddles and Barbours out there which have actually got a long authentic history to draw on. People buy these things because they feel authentic. But they also buy them because they are inventive and a little bit unreal. One thing all these new fake heritage brands have in common is their fantastic storytelling. And it’s the stories people want to participate in, not just the look and style.
