For the second year in a row, the Palace triangle has dominated graphic tee shirt marketshare at Tompkins Square Park. That does nothing to stop eager trend forecasters from looking for the *next big thing* in the awfully difficult-to-predict world of graphic tee shirts.
A prominent Upper West Side ex-Lurker wearing a shirt to support his neighborhood gourmet / kosher grocer (pictured above, top left) is nothing out of the ordinary, but leading analysts have started to see this particular garment increase in visibility throughout the past six-month cycle of skate footage. Its most notable appearance was in a Barcelona-set Mark Suciu throwaway clip. Now that the shirt has been adopted by west coasters with east coast sensibilities, analysts scramble to determine if this 80th & Broadway establishment’s sole foray into graphic tees could dethrone the current London-based triangular juggernaut, and return a sizable piece of the market back to New York’s local economy (previously occupied by Autumn.)
If optimistic projections hold true, and this garment gains traction into our summer 2013 trend report, the implications would be immense. It would make Zabar’s the first kosher skate apparel company, possibly resulting in increased Jewish investment within skateboarding. Also, other New York-based grocers like Fairways, Gristedes, and even low-end outfits like C-Town and Associated would have no choice but to play catch-up in this largely untapped market.
