Is there no such thing as bad publicity?

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For many fashion brands, receiving negative comments is an inevitable part of growing an online following. Typically, haters have gone ignored by brand accounts. But lately, social media savvy labels have been leaning into trolls and critics as a way to entertain their young audiences, cut through the noise online and underline their disregard for convention.

“Someone having a passionate reaction to our clothes is the highest compliment, even if it is to say, ‘This is the worst show I’ve ever seen. It’s trash,’” says Patric DiCaprio, co-founder of New York-based label Vaquera, which shared a roundup of unflattering comments about its Spring/Summer 2024 runway show on Instagram. The post received 7,000 likes, and is now one of their most-liked photos of the last six months. “It seems counterintuitive but it’s endlessly exciting. I’m like, ‘How can we get more hate mail?’” DiCaprio says. His co-founder Bryn Taubensee agrees: “It’s always affirming when people get mad,” she says. “Neutrality is worse than hate.”

They’re not the only ones. During Milan-based brand Sunnei’s recent SS24 runway show, the designers invited the audience to score the looks with paddle boards numbered zero to 10. Afterwards, they shared a video recap on Instagram of all those who rated the show poorly. It was one of their top posts, with over 32,000 likes and 500 comments. Similarly, popular internet-based brand Praying regularly shares “flash apology sales” whenever an item of clothing is poorly received, spoofing followers that they can visit Praying.com for resources to seek help, when in reality they are just trying to promote sales.

In today’s saturated attention economy, Gen Z and younger brands are starting to understand the art of taking risks online to create attention, says internet foresight consultant Coco Mocoe. “Not getting hate comments means that you’re not doing anything that’s attention-worthy. Or that you’re not doing anything that is moving in a new direction. And, if your monetisation is through attention, then that’s a kiss of death.” Mocoe also tells clients that with the unpredictability of the TikTok For You page and Instagram algorithm, hate comments can be a sign of good reach.

Brands that engage with disparaging comments show an authentic understanding of social media’s irony-pilled, meme-driven culture. If done correctly, it can foster a devoted community, with young consumers feeling “in on the joke” or defensive of the brand — both of which build connection. It can also safeguard and future-proof brands. “It shows that they are fallible,” continues Mocoe. “This makes people more forgiving towards mistakes or ill-received design choices. At best, it can even build cult, icon status as Gen Z loves a well-executed clapback.”

That’s why Sunnei’s designers don’t take themselves too seriously and aren’t afraid of public critique. “This kind of approach is what we thought was missing in the market when we launched Sunnei, so people who see things our way appreciate it, while others don’t understand it and criticise it,” say co-founders Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo in a joint statement. “But, it’s part of the game when you decide to use your own voice instead of conforming to the rest.”

“​​It’s definitely more prevalent now than it used to be, but it’s always been around,” adds brand consultant Karmen Tsang. “Vivienne Westwood’s anti-establishment punk era was a great example of this.” However, she warns that brands can possibly throw away a long-standing history or reputation that consumers may hold an emotional connection with if they skew too far off the brand. With Westwood, “it worked because it was authentic to her values and beliefs”, Tsang says.

“Negativity and brand damage spreads fast in this day and age where ‘cancel culture’ is rife and consumers aren’t afraid to call out what they see as inappropriate, cultural appropriation or distasteful,” continues Tsang. “For a brand to be successful they can’t just rely on a ‘shock value’ strategy. It’s a whole 360-degree process, and ‘brand noise’ won’t translate into sales and success unless the product, content, distribution and teams are also strong.”

“Bad ideas only”

Consultant Mocoe believes brands and creators should remove the fear of backlash, to an extent, to build online buzz. Some creators and brands will purposely mispronounce a word or say a wrong fact (a popular marketing tactic that creators like GirlBossTown and Polina Nioly have admitted to doing in the recent past). The comments section then floods with people correcting or making fun of them — but at least it’s getting engagement.

“It’s about leaning into unconventional, counterintuitive ideas,” Mocoe continues. “The ones who build the biggest followers are the ones that make what others would deem at the time as bad videos, but people are drawn to them because they’re giving them something different that they can’t find anywhere else.”

In Vaquera’s case, they do not make clothing that they deem to be bad — quite the opposite. “We love fashion and clothing, but we want to use it as a vehicle to push things forward,” explains DiCaprio.

Sometimes, embracing hate can even inspire creative ideas. Earlier this year, the Vaquera team received an email with a subject line titled “Disgusting” in reference to a dress they had made out of stolen American flags. “There was a picture of the dress in Elle and this lady found our email and wrote to us: ‘How dare you do this to our flag to make this obscene dress,’” explains Vaquera’s Taubensee, who adds that they were so inspired by the hate mail that the next season they made a T-shirt with the words “Obscene dress” on it.

“The amount of pleasure I got sending this person an email back like, ‘Thank you so much for your email. Just so you know, you’re such a muse, you’ve inspired this look from the runway.’ And we sent her a picture of the look that had her words on it,” continues DiCaprio.

Although Vaquera has a cult following, its co-founders understand that they are still very niche. “All instances where we receive a lot of hate is a result of mainstream media taking notice of us and making our work public,” says Taubensee. “What’s exciting is that we’re managing to break through to people who are not used to seeing this type of thing.”

Resharing hate content can also help brands like Vaquera strengthen their existing community who will come to their defence. “This one person was like, ‘Y’all are hating from the sidelines, but this is actually cool work. I think a lot of people are referencing this work, and maybe you just aren’t ready to see it. But it’s something that in a couple of years you’re going to be into,’” DiCaprio says.

DiCaprio feels Vaquera attracts equal (if not more) positive attention during backlash. “It’s the same as Rihanna being in the clothes. It’s a trophy in a way that we’ve accessed that person, which I think is really hard in fashion.”

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