People aren’t happy about FENDI X FILA

Earlier this year Fendi announced a collaboration with Fila. It is only now after the catwalk during Milan Fashion Week that people are really talking about the collab. The collection has received a mixed reception with a number of people not being happy with the partnership.

High-end fashion houses appropriating streetwear is still a conversation. The collaboration was announced after Fendi was accused of appropriating Fila’s logo in their FW18 women’s collection. Hey_reilly is the graphic designer responsible for reinventing Fendi’s logo with Fila. Although the collection was well received in the catwalk, people took to Twitter to voice opinions at the collection.

One of the first responses is the irony behind a luxury brand teaming up with a high street brand. Fila made a comeback with the Disruptor and new lines which can be found in JD, Topshop, and ASOS. However, for a long time, the brand was associated with being cheap and for working class people.

It’s so crazy that FILA is high fashion now. When I was growing up, if you wore FILA you got clowned bc it was so cheap… https://t.co/I6nxhrFslu

— Blacktivist (@__ggab) September 22, 2018

The wider debate is the fact that brands which were initially targeted at working class people are now made unaffordable because high fashion has made them stylish. One angle of this debate is that the style of working-class people is ripped off by expensive brands. At one point Fila was associated with poverty and being uncool. Despite being uncool it remained affordable and trendy for some and the fact that prices have inflated means that some of these people are now left out. Nonetheless, brands have to progress and the collaboration represents a shift in fashion. Lower-end sportswear brands have as much authority as high-end brands.

Not gonna lie.

The fact that brands which were primarily worn by working class people are now being made unaffordable for working class people because they’re now “trendy” and also cause of things like this really annoys me. https://t.co/DkJ20taNpT

— notbri.sol (@Xhakaed) September 22, 2018

Lastly, was the collaboration necessary? Another opposing statement towards the collection is that it doesn’t actually work. Both brands rely heavily on logos and some believe that the two together is too much.

They shouldn’t have done this , they’re enough as individual brands

— Boikanyo Maboa ⚜️ (@Biithecreative) September 20, 2018