J.Crew’s ‘The Bear’ Collab Celebrates the Show’s Best Characters

What if there was an apparel brand that was so public and honest that you knew everything the people behind it loved and supported, and regardless of whether you agreed with them, you felt as if you could invite them over for dinner?

Whereas in the past a person wearing a Nirvana t-shirt was probably a fan of the band’s music, today no such guarantee exists (and many more shirts are sold). This often precludes one of the original purposes of merch, a signaling of belonging to a certain (sub)culture.

Still, the meaning-making of merch has not disappeared, but merely shifted. A pe

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