Cult or Culture

Posted on | March 1, 2009 |


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With a sinking economy and consumer purchasing lower than it has been in years, it might be hard to understand how an $800 pair of Nike sneakers could be at the top of a shopping list. But there are places where, even in the worst of financial times, you’ll see transactions like this on a daily basis. In fact, you might even see a line of people camping out overnight, 200 miles from their home, just to get  a chance to purchase a pair of one-of-a-kind, limited-edition kicks. These individuals may come from all walks of life, but they are united by their insatiable desire for rare and coveted apparel and footwear. This desire forms a bond that transforms consumerism into culture, and culture into a cult-like community.

Consumer communities, as we’ll refer to them, transcend products and physical space. They are movements that are propelled organically by authentic passion and the word-of-mouth bonds that connect the individuals that form them. Some businesses and marketers respond to these cultural developments by becoming a catalyst, extending the lifestyle and further empowering the consumers.




photo by Jon Brown

One example is the elite urban apparel store Concepts, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Terek Hassan, founder and owner of Concepts, has kept a steady eye on the rise in demand of expensive and limited-edition apparel over the past decade. For nearly twelve years, Hassan ran Concepts as a small section in the back of his more mainstream store, The Tannery. But in 2008, he knew that the time had come to give the store and its followers their own home.

Now Concepts gives urban fashion lovers an authentic place to shop and convene. The store is a lifestyle oasis, providing plush lounge space for VIPs, exclusive events and some of the most sought-after apparel and footwear in Massachusetts. Authenticity has played an essential role in making Concepts the cultural fixture that it has become. For years, urban fashion fanatics relied  on word-of-mouth and true street intelligence to find out about the new shoes and trends. And, for years, Concepts employees were the go-to guys for the latest and most exclusive buzz. This reliance on word-of-mouth and those in the know was a key ingredient in creating the broader culture and consumer community that urban fashion has become today.

CHOICE caught up with Deon Point, a current retail manager and buyer at Concepts, to talk about the evolution of urban fashion, and how he has personally seen the culture grow over the years.


CHOICE: How did you get sucked into the world of exclusive urban fashion?

Deon: When I was a kid, I used to go to a place, Dev and George’s [Bodega], which, funny as it sounds, was a real bodega store that sold actual convenience-store type products. They must have had a connection or something to get these [exclusive] shoes into the States. So you would go to this convenience store that looked real shady, and I remember going in there with my mother. She says, “You sure this is the place?” “This can’t be the place.” And I say, “Ma, this is where all the kids in school said to come.” The guy [store clerk] looking at me must have been familiar with that bewildered look and said, “What size, and what color?” I was like, “Oh… this is the place,” and got the turquoise ones or whatever. Paid 65 bucks, which was a decent amount of money back then. I was probably in junior high at the time.

CHOICE: What were people into back then?

Deon: Back then, the cool thing was that you could wear Adidas and Diadora, or Asics and Converse, or maybe just Puma, and it was very acceptable. It didn’t really bring you down a notch on the cool scale if you went outside of some of themore prominent brands that are around now. On one hand I see that these kids really stick to certain major brands whether it be Nike or New Balance or Adidas. But then you have these small groups that are nestled into creative recreation. I hear a lot about Supra and Greedy Genius and some of those types of brands too. These kids allow the independent footwear companies to maintain some sort of presence in the industry right now. As to what got me here? I can’t really say. After high school it just became really an addiction.

CHOICE: So, how did you even find out about this stuff?

Deon: Kids in the South Shore [Massachusetts] went to Downtown Crossing ‘cause you know, it was our SoHo, where you could go to shop around here. I remember one day I was at my friend’s birthday party and I saw this kid with these Air Forces on, and I was like, “Those are the illest Air Forces I’ve ever seen. Where did you get those?” And he said, “I got them in New York.” That was the cool thing to say back then. Everybody said that. They lied and said they got them in New York. As it turns out, my best friend who was at the party tells me three days later, “Yo, I found out where that kid got them shoes at.” And I said, “Yeah
right, what do you mean? Like around here in MA?” And he said, “Yeah. It’s this place Concepts in Cambridge.”

CHOICE: We call that word-of- mouth marketing right there.

Deon: Yeah. Yeah. Which is how Concepts expanded. How we really became popular back in the ‘90s and around 2000, I would say.

CHOICE: So there was no Internet, no magazines, it was strictly…

Deon: No, nothing like that. And even if there was, there wouldn’t be a mention of a sneaker store back then that could afford to be on the web. It was just crazy. So, I came in [to Concepts], saw the shoes and bought them right away. Bought about four or five more pairs.  I met Spongy and John Roy, who now work for Nike. They were just, we were just wolves. We were just foaming at the mouth. We were hungry. I was like, “Wow, when are you guys getting more stuff? I never see anything like this.” I got on the list with them and they were calling me when anything would come out, and I would just be  up there all of the time.

CHOICE: Not an email list? Not  a mailing list? They just gave you a call.

Deon: There was nothing back then. The coolest thing about  it was you were hearing it firsthand from the kids that worked at the store, like what went into this project, or what made this shoe. I remember when the first SB’s came out. Way back when this act was charging people 300, 400 dollars a pair, it’s like, “Why these shoes? Why would they be so much?” And they just knew it was going to make such a huge, huge impact. These shop owners were really at the forefront of fashion as far as footwear was concerned. It became such a huge, huge business and still to this day we still have kids lining up, no matter what the weather is — rain, sleet, snow or hail and I mean that literally. Any form  of precipitation, these kids  are waiting in line for it.

CHOICE: How has the Internet changed this?

Deon: One thing I notice now  is that back then you could still be a trendsetter shopping at a store like that because it was hard to find, and nobody knew about it. And you could pick the shoes you like and make them cool. Then you go  to your suburb, or city, or town and kind of introduce it to everybody else. Whether it was weird or different it didn’t matter because people started to trust you, and they learned to trust your judgment. You became a trendsetter, an opinion leader, and they followed you along. Nowadays, with the Internet, that’s more or less left in the hands of the blogs, which is a double-edged sword. They are great for promotional use, and it’s free, it’s great for the company and for the brands. But for the kids, I think the perception is that anything shown on these blogs is automatically popular, or it’s a must have, and that’s a sad thing because it’s not always the case. Now you have these kids that are playing the role of sheep and feeding into some styles that should never have legs to begin with.

CHOICE: So you are saying  that bloggers are the most influential part in the culture?

Deon: Absolutely. Absolutely.  A million trillion hundred thousand zillion percent! It’s what you see on the websites.  A shoe that doesn’t come out for 6 months will have a photo in these blogs and then my phone starts ringing at the store like, “When’s the shoe coming? When’s the shoe coming? When’s the shoe coming?”


Concepts is a true testament to how a business can play such an integral role in the evolution of both consumer culture and community. Though it has come a long way since the early days, Concepts still carries its authentic roots.

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