to think decent brands are hijacked by chavs?

[loopdaloo]

As the title says, thinking of the likes of Barbour, Hunter, Toms and going back a few years to Burberry, and all counterfeit! I'm sticking to my Bench and Skechers!

Hmm perhaps my use of the word chav was misguided.CCertainly nothing to do with class or money in my opinion. And the people I'm thinking of haven't saved up to buy expensive items, they are counterfeit items that I see for sale on local fb selling pages daily. I guess I'm trying to say that certain brands which aim to be high end are becoming common, and would the designers or manufacturers have desired this when production started?

In my opinion chav is a million miles away from calling someone a retard! Where I'm from we use the word charver, and it is not necessarily derogative.

Personally I buy what I like where I like but I would be put off buying myself a pair of Uggs and a Barbour jacket as it seems to be the outfit of choice where I live, amongst a certain group of people - this is not being stereotypical or judgemental, this is fact.

OP I'd save your breath trying to explain yourself, it seems like some people are looking for a reason to be offended.

If I needed a good, robust jacket for the winter I would not buy a McKenzie/ Henleys one because of the target market, (and also individuals I have known wearing those particular brands) which I don't fit. I would be associated with a certain clientele. Call me shallow, I don't give a fuck. If you know anything about branding/ marketing then you'll understand- people are loyal to a certain brand because they aspire to fit the image and the lifestyle that it evokes. If you see 10 junkies in a week (wouldn't surprise me, where I live) jiving about like fucking Bez from the Happy Mondays, sounding off with a can of lager in hand, and they all happened to be wearing a certain brand of joggers/ trackssuit bottoms, I'm pretty sure (even subconsciously) that brand would hold negative connotations for you and you would try to distance yourself away from it. To me, the word 'chav' is like saying 'antisocial twat with no thought for anyone else.' It just so happens the fashion for that demographic is redundant sportswear as they want to appear 'hard.' I know I'll get the whole 'Oooh you're generalising' bollocks. 2am on a Saturday night, and on my street without fail there's yelling, loud music being blared from cars, folk throwing glass bottles, letting off fireworks fuck I need to move and you can bet your left arm that they aren't wearing cashmere from the White Company. Not that it matters, a twat is a twat, but you can catch my drift.

Agree that people go mad over the word chav on MN but also that in RL people use it more for a certain type of yob, rather than someone respectable but low income. Lots of areas have their own local word for the kind of person who looks like they might give you a kicking for a bit of a laugh.

I dont think all cavs are anti social, criminal or drunks/addicts.

Its a fairly wide group.

mainly impressionable youngsters with bad dress sense.

Funny runner -i remember one expression similar to chav.

townie

it is not alll shellsuits/sportswear and trainers.

for me its

excessive gold jewellry

just ott in general really.

Yes yes yes some posters who are actually getting my point rather than jumping on me for my perhaps poor choice of words.

Nothing wrong with labels but I'm talking about those people where every item they wear has an obvious usually large in your face label, and more often than not it's a fake.

3asabird - are you calling Mr T a chav!?!?!?

For shame!

This was obviously lighthearted, did no one get the Bench/Skechers reference!? loop you should have known better, you can't post a joke on MN anymore without covering it in (lighthearted) and LOLs.

I always thought Bench was a teenage brand-the clothes certainly appear to be?

As for Hunters-overpriced crap, has to be Muckboots-far far superior.

2am on a Saturday night, and on my street without fail there's yelling, loud music being blared from cars, folk throwing glass bottles, letting off fireworks fuck I need to move and you can bet your left arm that they aren't wearing cashmere from the White Company.

This is a fair point.

The problem with chav, is that there are two uses happening simultaneously. One set of people uses it to describe anti-social behaviour.

The other set claim to use it for behaviour, but honestly, they don't. They use it for anyone with a low income, or who wears sportswear, and assume anti-social behaviour goes along with that income or clothing.

OK, my reply got deleted< proud> , so i,ll rephrase, yes OP,perhaps you may be a twat.

It has awful connotations, the word chav, you know it.

Bit like the use of the word darkie, as was used in love thy neighbour. I,m sure we,d all recoil if we heard that used now.
The Owen Jones book is food for thought.

I hope the use of this word dies out. Awful.

There's nothing light hearted about the word 'chav'

MC yobs wear Hollister.

I just knew Waitrose was full of chavs, all that "Lucinda and Torquil find Mumsy some medlars" didn't fool me.

People buy so called 'luxury' brands to show that they can. They are called 'brands' for a reason, livestock were branded to show who owned them.

Jessie you raise an interesting point about dual usage of the word. To me the word means thuggish type - it has replaced the traditional local term which is quite sad really as the original word is characterful. It definitely doesn't mean someone is poor amongst the people I know. It's more a term used for someone like Vicky Pollard!

I've ranted about this before, but I will go again.

I used to buy Joules stuff. Believe it ir not they used to sell fantastic jods, breeches and riding coats. Now it is tat and they don't sell proper riding gear. Like another poster above, I also used to live and ride in my Hunters until I stuck my mucking our fork in them one to many times. I wouldn't touch the new ones. From what I have seen they are very flimsy and fall apart.

I don't have many clothes, I prefer to buy good quality bits once or twice a year. I'm not fashionable either - that way I can keep my stuff for years.

Bit off thread - sorry...

Chavs wear sports gear becauseit is cheap, warm and practical. If you can only afford to own two pairs of trousers, it makes sense for those to be joggers.

It's not exactly a fashion choice!

OP likes to wear clothes with 'Bench' written on them. WHY?? What does it say about you? You are a bench???
They are crap clothes. But with 'Bench' printed on them, people buy them.
Confused.

Olidus thank you, lol!