Streetwear brand Corteiz was founded by Clint Ogbenna (also known to fans as ‘Clint419’ or just ‘Clint’) when he was a London student back in 2017. The brand was conceived with three simple screen-printed sweatshirts and has now accumulated massive global hype within Gen Z, attributed to the brand’s small-batch releases and exclusive social media. If there’s anyone who can shine a better light on this meteoric rise, its Tamara Aiyad, graduating BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing student and member of the elusive Gen Z herself. In her final project ‘The Power of Cultural Branding’, Tamara delves into this youth culture phenomenon, cultural branding, and what makes a cult brand.
The focus was cultural branding, where brands create myths, or cultural narratives, that connect with their audience and connect them with a culture. Corteiz was my case study for investigating how cultural branding created deep connections with Gen Z specifically. There's no concrete research on why Gen Z is going crazy for Corteiz, which intrigued me.
Theorists claim that brands using cultural branding will eventually become iconic brands within the market. As a Gen Z, I know that we’re a tough crowd to please, so I wasn’t sure that this applied to our generation. I found that Corteiz isn’t considered an iconic brand, because that’s a label that takes a lot of time, we’re considered the least trustworthy generation for a reason. But we’re always competing for cultural capital, for knowledge about a culture. Streetwear is such a big subculture now, and there’s constant competition within Gen Z to know more about different brands in this subculture. When we think of culture, we think of nationalities and culture, whereas Corteiz is more about youth culture and rebellion. Their slogan is ‘Corteiz rules the world’, which helped build narrative and community. There’s a strong emotional connection between the audience and the brand, and that’s turned Corteiz into a cult brand.
Corteiz is a brand that some people are almost scared to talk about, they just say it’s a great brand and move on. It’s been great to research the branding aspect without diminishing it or suggesting that it's inauthentic. I also found it interesting that most of the Gen Z streetwear enthusiasts that I interviewed have almost identical attitudes towards Corteiz. I’m proud to have created a full report on how this brand is affecting the generation as a whole. My research has never been done before, which is exciting.
Well, I consider myself a very ambitious person, and I will always be thinking about what's next for me. I want to do something that contributes and means something. I have a few ideas for projects here and there, but first I want to gain some experience in a role where I can learn from different departments. I’ve already been involved in the retail and content creation side of fashion marketing, but I’d love to look into traditional marketing. This project inspired me to focus on the traditional things, it showed me why it's important. I’ve learned a lot in this course, but there's so much more that I have to learn.
Written by LCF Newsroom Content Creator, Mimi Francis-Mearns, BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism and Content Creation, 2024 graduate.