Technology companies turn to fashion to strengthen their brands — YLE News
Open AI, Palantir and Anthropic are releasing clothing and accessories using streetwear aesthetics. According to fashion researcher Annamari Vänskä, the companies aim to appear not as distant corporations but as appealing lifestyle brands close to their audience, YLE News reports.
In July, Open AI introduced a merchandise collection that included a sweater with the embroidered word Research. The short-zip model follows the popular half-zip format and resembles items from streetwear brands. Many products from the collection sold out quickly.
Streetwear as a branding tool
Earlier this year, the US company Palantir released its own collection. Its items included a blue jacket inspired by workwear and contemporary streetwear trends. Last year, Anthropic handed out caps bearing the word Thinking.
Vänskä, an associate professor of fashion studies and senior university lecturer at Aalto University, believes such collections help companies reshape the perceptions associated with them. In her view, clothing makes an abstract technology business more tangible and accessible to people, while pushing the areas in which its technologies are used into the background.
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As an example, the researcher cites Palantir, which develops AI-based analytical software, including for the military sphere and crime fighting. According to YLE News, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) used the company’s technologies during migrant deportations.
Betting on a creative audience
Marketing researcher Simo Lehtevirta notes that a style borrowed from streetwear effectively conveys values important to technology companies: progressiveness, economic growth and entertainment. In his view, such clothing is likely to appeal to people who support these companies’ activities.
Vänskä also draws attention to small logos and the absence of prominent company names on some items. To recognize such a product, one needs to know the brand’s symbols, which, she says, corresponds to the “inner circle” principle common in streetwear. In promotional materials, Open AI uses the style of lookbook shoots, presenting ordinary shirts, sweaters and caps as elements of a fashionable look.
According to Vänskä, through fashion, technology companies are also trying to influence perceptions of what is considered current, desirable and attractive.
