On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:20:11 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>
>> Yes, indeed. It's what happened to blue jeans some years ago. Guess?
>> Girbeau? My dear friend, the late Widow Geraldine refused to buy
>> designer jeans with this rationale: "I'll be damned if I'm giving free
>> advertising to that company. If I'm wearing anyone's name on my ass,
>> it'll be my own." She was a woman of few words. God rest her soul.
>
>
>Some brand name labels are subtle enough. I draw the line on outright
>advertising. I can't believe the number of people who actually pay for
>caps, T shirts, jackets etc. emblazoned with the name and pictures of
>products. If someone is selling me a product and gives me something like
>that I might wear it, but I sure as hell won't pay to do their advertising
>for them.

not quite the same as ripping the tag off your levis, but anyway...

in "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System"
by Paul Fussell, i believe he credits alison lurie with the term
"legible clothing."

"By wearing a garment reading GATORADE or SPORTS ILLUSTRATED or LESTER
LANIN, the prole associates himself with an enterprise the middle
class and prole world judges successful, and thus, for the moment, he
achieves some importance."

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671792253/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-1175407-9096941#reader-link>

it's a very funny book, that i think i've recommended here before.

<http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/dp/0671792253/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/102-1175407-9096941>

your class-struggle pal,
blake