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Brooklyn Industries decided to decorate their shops with some tall bikes (those are specially-made bikes that are, well, taller than regular bikes)-- unfortunately, they did not get the approval of the anti-corporate bikerati gangs. Very quickly, all the windows of their Williamsburg store got defaced with etch. It's sad, because the company was donating $2 from the sale of every messenger bag to the Recycle-a-Bicycle charity. Sometimes you just want to tell people to chill the hell out!
Related: more in-depth reports from Suckapants (Tod sent in the link), and BikeBlog.
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got what they deserved
"Bike Culture"? Really? Is it a "culture" to participate in an activity that everyone learns to do when they are 6? This is pathetic, so much wrong with the world and this is what people get mad about...
You haters don't understand how the coopting of culture keeps white liberal art school alums down! Can't they have something that's theirs? Just once?
I agree Lofty. That is just so incredibly obnoxious. You don't like a store's displays, so you destroy their windows? I hope Brooklyn Industries finds out who did it and sues. There are much better ways to protest, and much more important things to be protesting.
Apparently "Bike Culture" involves vandalism.
drama queens with etch
There's a "bike culture"? In New York City? I thought those guys only delivered Chinese food to my apartment and brought me documents at work. You mean they hang out together? Yikes. I've got to start tipping better...or wait, if it's not for sale, not tipping at all? Now I'm confused. Maybe I can infiltrate this culture somehow...can anyone tell me where to find one of these "bikes" and then show me how to "pedal" one of those infernal contraptions?
Shouldn't those guys be drinking PBR about now?
You don't sue somebody for vandalism, Silly.
They should have tagged the windows: "Brooklyn Not 4 Sale" since Brooklyn Industries coopted a whole image and has little to do with Brooklyn's industry since much of the crap is made in third world countries. Their "Made in Brooklyn" tees -- made in Canada.
Link under my name is to a blog entry (not mine) which I found.
They did the Park Slope store too...I'm no fan of Brooklyn Industries and their $80 t-shirts, but I've never heard of said subculture and can't really see what their issue is and why it warrants defacing a window.
You can sue someone for property damage due to vandalism, silly. Those windows are going to be expensive to replace.
I thought Gothamist endorces graffiti. I hope an 18 wheeler hits the bike schmucks who did this
Ok, I'll say it since noone else will. Die, hipster, die, die, die. Freakin cooler-than-thou attitude makes me want to hurl.
They should have tagged the windows: "Brooklyn Not 4 Sale" since Brooklyn Industries coopted a whole image and has little to do with Brooklyn's industry since much of the crap is made in third world countries. Their "Made in Brooklyn" tees -- made in Canada.
***********************************
So what? Is Brooklyn a "cause" of some kind? BI is taking a "hip" name and marketing it successfully. No one has to buy their stuff. I'm shocked -- absolutely shocked that a clothing merchant called "Brooklyn Industries" might not have a passionate commitment to our beloved Brooklyn.
Are they hurting anyone? Do they not do business in B'klyn and employ people there? Is the problem that they are not sincere?
I suspect the people most exercised by Brooklyn Industries' "traitorous" ways are people who were drawn to Brooklyn by the marketing of its hipness factor -- the very thing Brooklyn Industries represents. They're like recent brownstone purchasers in Prospect Heights who displaced black renters but now consider themselves "real" neighborhood types and bemoan various incursions from "outsiders" who want to "change the character" of the neighborhood. Or Wiliamsburghers who supplanted some Puerto Ricans but don't want "hipsters" invading "their neighborhood".
I was born and raised in Brooklyn and I've always been proud of it and I don't give a fuck if Brooklyn Industries makes their shirts in Canada. (Oh, it would be good if they had a factory here, but they don't.)
The people who vandalized the storefronts are representatives not of bicycle culture but of crime culture. They are not "activists"; not "progressives" -- they are criminals and should be arrested.
Other than demonstrate that they are thugs and guaranteeing Police involvement, whomever did this needs to grow a brain cell...
Riding a bicycle in New York City has become a political act since August of 2004 when the NYPD began labling the monthly Critical Mass ride a "terrorist orgazation". There was a recent state supreme court decition in favor of the ride's participants. The judge heavily criticized the NYPD for abusing their authority.
Bike culture in NYC is there to strengthen the solidarity among people who feel marginalized by police and opinions expressed by a few of the commenters above. It's very odd that doing something which is good for your health, economical, environmentally responsible and fun should be labled a political act, right?
As for the BI storefront, whatever. Tall bikes are cool no matter how you present them.
When Oberlin grads fight the power, it's probably against a small retail clothing chain...
Broolyn Industries is CRAP!!!! I swear to god all the designs are like ripped off from 1996 Triple 5 Soul! and the clothes are poorly made.
I've never been too impressed with Brooklyn Industries, but this is a bit nutty. My guess is the real reason it happened is some self-proclaimed 'bike culture' trust-fundie was snubbed when Brooklyn Industries decided to feature those type of bikes in their displays. So they decided to do this to get out some of his snubbed designer angst.
Also it's quite damned stupid. I can't think of too many hipster 'cultures' that are smaller than the custom bike world in NYC. I'm sure that within a few weeks someone is going to get a visit from the NYPD.
Hi All,
Interesting discussion.
I think agree that the vandalists in this case are a little too intense about the bikes. But, as no one has pointed out so far, most kids on tall bikes ride Critical Mass. Lately, Bloomberg has reversed many years of city approval of the mass and decided--with very questionable legal grounds--to try and shut it down by force.
I've biked the Mass a few times and I have to say it's one of the funnest things you can do. The Brooklyn one doesn't even involve confrontation with cops. But I think all the anger in Manhattan has polarized a lot of activist bikers (no, not Chinese food delivery guys--although I sometimes see them in the ride). It's made them into almost like a new ethnicity or that's how they feel. Probably this wouldn't have happened without the crackdown on the Mass, but as this post shows, a lot of people don't even know about the existence of the activist bike set and that's why they're surprised when they design a window display and it pisses them off.
respect,
James
I can see why somebody might be upset that their subculture is being used to market or sell something else. But it does seem kind of counterproductive to fight an attempt, even a commercial one, to popularize something like biking culture. Isn't the point of Critical Mass to raise awareness about bicycling? If these clothes turn somebody into a byciclist or, at least, a sympathizer, isn't that a positive? I suspect that this defacing probably has more to do with a very small subset of bicyclists who are trying to protect their invested cultural capital, or, "coolness," that they might have, rather than to win any new converts to biking. That's a shame.
So there is an official Bike Culture? And these guys are the guardians? Wow. Now I'll have to conform to their whims.
Strange how by fighting what you see as corporate oppression you become fascists yourselves.
I'll have to go buy me a messenger bag. To wear on my bike.
I didn't know I needed someone's permission to be "hip"? isn't that what's it really about?
Someone horned in on their little secret and now the whole world knows.
I don't think this has anything to do with the CM crowd. Instead of those silly tall bikes, just bring back the guy with the 10 ft tall unicycle and the occasional vintage style old time bike with the large back wheel. (And, have a barbershop quartet playing at the sidelines)
I don’t think that etching the windows is justified for any reason -- use some muscle! chuck a brick through the thing kiddies! (I’m just kidding -- maybe? kind of?).
The vandalism sucks. Brooklyn Industries' designs suck. Bikes as decorations suck. Paying Recycle a Bicycle $2 on a $60 bag and claiming its a great deed sucks. It sucks when a decent idea is really poorly executed. It sucks when you fall off a tall bike. It sucks that the vandals didn't write a letter or explain to Brooklyn Industries why they effed up.
Anyone who has to destroy property to defend their "coolness" simply isn't cool: he's too insecure to be cool. Cool would just laugh it off. Pitiful little trolls.
Fuck the "bike culture" in this city. I ride my bikes all the time around the city. Know what? I hate the assholes that think doing so is a political statement.
The "bike culture" in this city has been taken over by radical left wing assholes who think that unless you get your bike from a local store in Williamsburg and pay $3000 more because it's a mom and pop, you're contributing to the destruction of the rain forests in Brazil.
I'm so sick and tired. If these people spent as much time riding as they did bitching, they wouldn't have time to vandalize store windows for daring to put a bike in it.
Un-fucking-believable.
Fucking idiots. RIde your bikes and shut the fuck up. I ride my bike all the time. Who cares if they use bikes in their display windows? Double idiots.
The real cyclists in this town wake up at 5am for a weekend race at 6am. This happens every weekend, in Kissena, in Prospect park, in central park, in Staten Island. Rain or shine.
Please don't lump these guys with the vandals.
I ride my bike for exercise and for fun and, sometimes, to get around the city. It's not a political statement. I think it's time for recreational cyclists and responsible bike commuters to take back this ridiculous idea of some sort of "bike culture" fighting against the man.
Hey, Transportation Alternatives. Hopefully you have or will soon issue a statement condemning vandalism in the name of "bike culture." This helps no one.
Amen, G.
You're 100% right.
agreed G -- but let's do something about the nypd (the man? the men?) attacking bicyclists too.
This vandalism is an isolated incident and was probably carried out by only a few people. What would Trans Alt say? They don't deal with this. It's an issue for the police.
I think everyone's forgetting something. Brooklyn Industries sells shite clothes. Seriously the clothes are like a poor man's triple 5 soul.
Broolyn Industries are like the Avril Lavigne of Punk Music! Fuck Them
Must, must, must note the irony of the "die, hipster, die" comment. Would that be the "bike culture" hipsters, or the hipsters who shop at BI?
Hmmm, I'm inclined to think that a brand that unabashedly bites off so-called "urban" culture (especially graf and stencil art) would be revelling in the street cred afforded by "vandalism." This would make a very savvy PR stunt if, hypothetically, it were staged by BI. Because hey, any publicity is good publicity.
I hate all vehicles. Bikes, cars, trucks, skateboards, horses. They all pollute, annoy, vandalize or take dumps.
I'm for PEDESTRIANS' RIGHTS! Let's have a Critical Walk.
whatever. the tall bike display is lame, but brooklyn industries probably has no idea what black label or chunk666 is. it's just something that look cool to them.
bklyn industries probably loves that they got tagged. more street cred or something.
Lousy clothes, but they're overpriced bags are pretty nice.
I think "Bike Culture" unseats Juggalos for the World Stupidist Subculture award. Congratulation hipsters!
they're = their :(
Most of their stuff is pretty crappy, but I swear by the floor-length down coat I bought last year...just the right amount of heaviness, and it cost much less than comparable ones.
And, this "bike culture" thing never fails to crack me up! Honestly, when I saw this image, I thought it was a part of the design (remember some of Antique Boutique's windows?). Did the vandals consider that they were just simply window designers performing their services for free?
Oops, I guess I should be careful what I say, lest those hoodlums try to "etch" my homepage!
WHAT???!!!
Exploitation of underrepresented groups of people within a consumerist society??? Unheard of! Outrageous!
Oh snap, bikesters, you rogues you! I'm going to get my fellow bullriders together and we shall hurl eggs upon the MerriLl Lynch building!
For the people making tall bikes and chopper bikes, it's an art that they put a lot of time into. If a company were to co-opt my art for their profit, I would react violently.
I am speaking on behalf of NYC Big Wheel Assoc. If any clothing store dares to put a Big Wheel in their window, they will feel the wrath of our 64 color box of Crayolas!
Etching was a cop out. They should have used bricks. Or better- absconded them crappy faux tall bikes.
There is way too much hating going on. Vandalism isn't going to get people to think positively about bikes, and especially the people that ride them. Aren't we, infact, trying to get people to park their cars and ride? As a bike rider, I'd hate to be corralled in with whoever decided defacing a Brooklyn business would prove their point.
Actions like these help the NYC cops in their antibikeism ways, and it reflects poorly on the people that just love to ride.
NYPD is not anti-bike, they are anti-morons who break the law on their Uncredible Ass rides.
Um, where do you think Brooklyn Industries got the bikes from in the first place?! Some tall bike owners/creators had to have given (or lent, or maybe even sold for money!) the bikes to the stores. *The Bike Culteratti* were in on it from the beginning. For the charity. Get a grip, people.
This was probably a frame-up by the NYPD (BI were obviously in cahoots) to paint the bike culture in a negative light and give the cops the right to use more force, probably to organize a city-wide crackdown in the coming days on what they see as an underground menace. Tallbike owners and creators will be watching their backs and listening carefully for any strange clicks when they pick up their phones as The Man can spring at any moment. Let's look through the looking glass here, people.
I actually like BI. I mean they have a lifetime warrenty on their bags (and will repair them for free). But, the bike people. Gah! I went to school with people like that.
Bike culture is absolutely for sale. All you have to do is, uh, buy a bike.
Im gunna go etch
"walking culture not 4 sale"
in any storefront that has shoes in the window
Love that last comment. Nice, no.
You're right, No, let's get those stores that use SHOES in their window to sell a product. Shame on them!
I am the true owner of bike culture not them
Whoever did this are cowards. Grow up already! Why couldn't they just write an intellectual essay in one of the local papers about what they thought about Brooklyn Industries instead of doing this? Here's a little memo: bike culture is for sale, almost everything is for sale these days. Stop living in an idealized dream world. By the way whoever did this the bikes you're riding were made in Asia where the workers are exploited for low wages. That makes you for sale.
Brooklyn industries is no victim.
Tall bikes have always been free to those with the ambition to make them. This is how it has been and by force of my will so shall it be. What stock do any of you have in brooklyn industries?
You people are pathetic. A bar code shall be your epitaph.
i hate hipster marketing.
use whatever you want BI, but be prepared for people to see through to your corporate image, and be angry that you arent really into the bikes.. but into the people who will come in and ask questions so you can sell them a bag and donate a measly 2$ to.. what does 2$ do anyways?
I wish someone would have thrown c.h.u.n.k. 666 through brooklyn industries windows.
I would have supported this marketing scheme.
It can be hip, cutting edge in your face.
I will purchase and proudly wear B.I. if this happens.
Support Brooklyn Industries!!!!
I wish someone would have thrown c.h.u.n.k. 666 through brooklyn industries windows.
I would have supported this marketing scheme.
It can be hip, cutting edge in your face.
I will purchase and proudly wear B.I. if this happens.
Support Brooklyn Industries!!!!
THROW C.H.U.N.K. THROUGH A WINDOW.
SUPPORT BIKE CULTURE!!!!
While the bike folks might be a little touchy, so what? FUCK Brooklyn Industries chain store bullshit and their phony "art" & "community" rhetoric.
1) Why do they have so many stores? As if Brooklyn, NYC aren't under threat from chain stores & heavy suburbanification already? Get thee to a MALL, leave the rest of us alone.
2) Arguments that this is "capitalism" don't wash, at least until BI cops to who the $$$ behind 'em is. You don't expand that much, that quickly w/o serious capital, even more than the ** STYLELESS ** corporate hipster pricks who buy their crap.
Rhetorical Q: what was wrong w/having a store in W'burgh & maybe another Manhattan? then-- whoa-- they become unique (if you like 'em) destinations, an characterful addition to 'hood x & y.
Now that they're in fact the GAP for self-deluded douchebags in ascendancy, it's well past time to call these creeps out. A TRULY benevolent company would have shown MUCH more modest, respect for a community's economic & ethnic heritage.
May BI, American Apparel and up & coming jackoffs Something Else all collapse under the weight of their own inanity.
Just came across this page and this article.....
Boo-hoo-hoooooooooo.......
Why the fuck should anyone be concerned with these fake-ass, wannabe Brooklynites?
All this talk about tallbikes and individualism.....shut the fuck up already.
To those whiny, mealymouthed, trust-funders who continue to flock to NYC in droves to further eviscerate mom-and-pop neighborhoods......FUCK YOU!!
Your gravy-train is gonna stop sometime and the funds are gonna eventually stop flowing so, wise the fuck up and use that degree Mommy and Daddy paid for when you went to your nice little sanitized private educational institution instead of mingling among real New Yorkers who know what it's like to actually EARN a fucking dollar in this city.
You assholes think you're the stuff of the earth, the food of the gods, but you know what? You're human like anyone else, which goes to show you, one day, someday----you piss off the wroooong guy (hell, maybe even a NATIVE, whom you baselessly hate) and you WILL get your ASS kicked. It's all matter of time and not IF---but WHEN.
But all you idiotic '70's/'80's walking fashion faux-pas disasters won't realize that until you're scraping your pasty, melanin-deprived asses off the cold concrete until it's too late.
What goes around, comes around........BITCHES.
Karma's a motherfucker, ain't it?
So fucking what if I'm off-topic? You elitist motherfuckers need a shot of reality, and a swift, forceful kick in the teeth, to boot.
Better hope you don't "pretend you didn't see me" if you're blocking my path out there while I'm trying to wade through the streets past your rat-pack friends, fuckers.....
Both sides of this debate are LAME: Brooklyn Industries, for being Brooklyn Industries, and "bike culture", for attempting to come off as some sort of intimidating legendary mafioso gang, which is fairly laughable. You ride a fucking bike, you're not tough and you're not some united "culture". Get a motorcycle and/or an actual life and come back to me.
Brooklyn Industries.........is not real brooklyn culture at all..........THE PEOPLE THAT WERE BORN IN Brooklyn know what im talking about. Brooklyn industries is trash. YOU WILL NEVER SEE A REAL BROOKLYNITE wearing the BS !!!