The Patagonia Vest Endures in San Francisco Tech Circles, Despite Ridicule (npr.org) 59
Long associated with Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the Patagonia vest has endured as a tribal symbol of finance and tech. But those who've dared in recent weeks to put on their vests in San Francisco have been the target of a resistance of sorts. From a report: "Urgent: Stop wearing vests," implore flyers plastered around the city. "You live in San Francisco now. It's time to start acting like it." It's the latest show of frustration from city residents against the tech workers that many blame for making the city one of the nation's most expensive. NPR tried but was unable to track down the creator of the flyers. Not everyone who sports a Patagonia vest is a "tech bro," says proud Patagonia vest-wearer Sam Runkle.
"The kind of people who wear Patagonia are maybe raising rents and maybe are the kind of people that these other groups are trying to push back on," he said on a recent afternoon as he played fetch with his golden retriever, with a lacrosse stick and ball, in a grassy field overlooking the San Francisco Bay. "But there's another cohort of people who do wear Patagonia who are not at all part of that." For instance, Runkle, who works in sales at the software startup Paylode, said of his digs in the city's trendy Marina neighborhood: "I live in a four-bedroom that's really a two-bedroom with a plywood wall, so I don't think I'm raising any rents."
And, he notes, a Patagonia vest is practical in San Francisco: the perfect wind shield for a city on the tip of a peninsula. "It's comfy," Runkle says. It gets the job done." Indeed, plenty of women and non-tech workers adore the vests in the Bay Area for the same reason, but Runkle admits it's most often sported by bros. In particular, bros who know something about venture capital or software engineering. "It's true," he says. The tension fueled by the vests comes as no surprise to historian Margaret O'Mara at the University of Washington and author of the book, The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America. She said the rise of the fleece vest in tech circles coincided with the throng of new investors piling into flashy startups in the early 2000s.
"The kind of people who wear Patagonia are maybe raising rents and maybe are the kind of people that these other groups are trying to push back on," he said on a recent afternoon as he played fetch with his golden retriever, with a lacrosse stick and ball, in a grassy field overlooking the San Francisco Bay. "But there's another cohort of people who do wear Patagonia who are not at all part of that." For instance, Runkle, who works in sales at the software startup Paylode, said of his digs in the city's trendy Marina neighborhood: "I live in a four-bedroom that's really a two-bedroom with a plywood wall, so I don't think I'm raising any rents."
And, he notes, a Patagonia vest is practical in San Francisco: the perfect wind shield for a city on the tip of a peninsula. "It's comfy," Runkle says. It gets the job done." Indeed, plenty of women and non-tech workers adore the vests in the Bay Area for the same reason, but Runkle admits it's most often sported by bros. In particular, bros who know something about venture capital or software engineering. "It's true," he says. The tension fueled by the vests comes as no surprise to historian Margaret O'Mara at the University of Washington and author of the book, The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America. She said the rise of the fleece vest in tech circles coincided with the throng of new investors piling into flashy startups in the early 2000s.
Patagonia's so last year (Score:1)
All the cool kids are wearing Driza-bone vests
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I've worn North Face vests for ages and ages. 'Course that started when I started wearing WindStopper vests in Colorado for skiing, but the darn things are just so handy....
News for fashion-nerds (Score:2, Informative)
Stuff nobody cares about.
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Well, I have got some of those vests, and they're basically because you get them at some companies. They're tired of always the same old coffee mug or tee shirt I suspect. But I get one and I'm thinking "what the hell is this good for?" This feels like an HR thing, no one wants them but everyone has one. There are a zillion companies out there who will put your logo on just about every sort of product.
It's not just San Francisco, sheesh, it's a low tech city only peripherally related to the high tech Sil
Our Stylish Overlords (Score:2)
Cancel culture on display via flyers! (Score:1, Informative)
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This isn't new...
People yelled at us who wore masks voluntarily and called them Maskholes.
Trying to get "punks" who are on the street for wearing pants that hand too low. or too baggy or flashy arrested because they are afraid they were gang members.
Wearing fancy clothing in poor districts
Wearing non-fancy clothing in rich district
Outrage when the Bikini came out.
Outrage when the "Burkini" came out.
I would even tie the car you drive as a sort of fashion statement, where people road-rage you because you driv
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Plenty of videos on YouTube about Tesla owners/drivers who encounter other drivers on the roads who are dangerously agressive against them for driving a Tesla/an electric car.
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While I have seen those videos on Tesla Drivers, having had a Prius for the past decade, I get a lot of people being aggressive against me. I don't have bumper stickers or anything else to share my political stance. And the Main Reason why I got a Prius, wasn't to save the world, but to save money at the gas pump, as I had a 60 miles commute when I got the car. So I would use a lot of gas.
The right would never do that (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, the right would never demonize people based on what they wear (except "urban" hoodies, or girls in tight clothes "asking for it" or trans people, etc, etc, etc) . If you think the left invented "cancel culture" you are sadly mistaken.
The what vest? (Score:5, Insightful)
Am I the only one who's never even heard of this until this summary (HAHA) and article?
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Nope.
I had to look it up. Fortunately, it's being displayed in TFA, in a picture.
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Even after seeing it in the picture. I was "what is all the fuss about?"
In the North Easts, vests are not that popular, because it is too cold or too hot. But for San Francisco where it is a little chilly but not really cold, it can work. It seems like acceptable business casual work attire.
I am not big on name brand clothing, but other people are. I guess they are just kinda pissed off at the small upper-middle class people in the city.
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Same here. Upon seeing it, all I could think of is the jokes directed at Marty McFly when he went back in time.
Holy shit NPR fell hard (Score:1, Funny)
Childish taunts about choice of attire?
Among educated adults?
Reported on by the self-styled prestige public broadcast service of the United States?
A pox on all your houses: tech bros, old time hippies, DSA, NPR writers, NPR editors, and slashdot for wasting mental cycles on idiocy.
Y'all know there's several wars on right now, right?
Re: Holy shit NPR fell hard (Score:1)
I don't have to. The stupid in TFA is neither subtle nor subjective.
Re: Holy shit NPR fell hard (Score:1)
Do they report on bathroom graffiti too, or only the political kind?
Re: Holy shit NPR fell hard (Score:1)
...and you're hoping to see your daughter's...
The new, new Fedora (Score:2)
Remember when hipsters were wearing Fedoras without the suit, changing neighborhoods and being mocked? This sounds like that, and unfortunately anybody who likes the article of clothing simply for its own sake gets caught up in it. Le plus ca change.
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Also, unlike the fedora, those vests actually serve a very practical purpose in San Francisco. You can go from 70-degrees and sunny to 50-degrees and foggy in the space of a 20-minute drive or subway ride. Depending on the neighborhoods you goto of course; the vests are often just the right balance between keeping you warm in the cold neighborhoods and not overheating you in the hot ones.
April fools? (Score:2)
Is this the closest Slashdot now comes to posting April fool's day stories?
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Is this the closest Slashdot now comes to posting April fool's day stories?
If only it wasn't a real article from yesterday.
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With the kind of news we get in 2022, I feel like every day is April fool's day.
Re:Consider who posted it (Score:2)
msmash tends to sabotage Slashdot by frequent passive-aggressive posting of such stories which are inexcusably idiotic garbage only appealing to morons. I consider that to reflect anger against the old Slashdot which was News for Nerds and actually had Stuff That Matters.
I don't understand the root of that resentment against Slashdot being a tech site but it's blatantly obvious over many years. It will continue no matter how many posters point it out because fecalization of Slashdot demonstrates power over
Fashion vest protests on /. (Score:1)
Why?
Why is it a thing and why is it on /. ?
Again, I ask you why?
I don't understand vests (Score:4, Informative)
I have never been in a situation where my body was cold but my arms were not.
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Never been in a situation where only my chest was cold and not my arms.
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These days people are offended by pretty much anything, including what other people wear, even if this is a harmless and a neutral color vest. How about they get offended at the people who do not take s
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Across the entirety of space and time people are offended by pretty much anything
Fixed that for you. People get offended about petty stuff all the time, always have, always will. We just have to stop wasting our precious brain cycles on paying attention to them.
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I have never been in a situation where my body was cold but my arms were not.
Me neither but vests have been around for a long time and so is the notion (false in my case) that if you keep the trunk warm, the arms will be fine. I think it is for people with better circulation than I have. I have no idea which situation is more common.
My biggest discovery for keeping warm in the last several years is arm warmers. They are pretty much the opposite of a vest They keep the arms warm without making the trunk sweat.
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I have never been in a situation where my body was cold but my arms were not.
Of course not. That would make you feel cold. On the other hand if you wear a vest and your body was warm while your arms were not you'd feel warm too.
Heat loss is related to blood circulation, and muscle action. Your arms are basically irrelevant to your body's warmth.
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I have never been in a situation where my body was cold but my arms were not.
Of course not. That would make you feel cold. On the other hand if you wear a vest and your body was warm while your arms were not you'd feel warm too.
No. If both my trunk and my arms were cold and I put on a vest, it would warm my trunk but my arms would still feel cold. If the vest were quite well insulated, my trunk might even sweat while my arms are still cold. There is no point where "I" feel warm because "I" am not a single point. I am not warm until all parts of me are warm.
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No. If both my trunk and my arms were cold and I put on a vest, it would warm my trunk but my arms would still feel cold.
Your arms can feel whatever you want, comfort is largely derived from how your body feels.
my trunk might even sweat while my arms are still cold
Then take off your vest, your body is overheating. You seem to have a problem managing your own warmth.
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Vests are stupid and always have been. Those people in the 50s were right to make fun of Marty McFly for wearing one.
Other problems? (Score:1)
I would think street shitting would be more of an issue.
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really (Score:1)
The "Big One" that causes SFO to just slide off into the Pacific Abyss where it belongs cannot come quickly enough.
Although the human feces-count in the ocean would immediately rise to dire levels, I think it's worth it.
Double standard (Score:1)
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My body my choice, right?
Twain didn't say it, but it is true (Score:1)
Eh, maybe you are part of the problem (Score:4, Insightful)
If all you can afford is a crappy room in a jerry-rigged apartment because the rent is too expensive and you pay the rent for what you have, maybe you are part of the problem...
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"I live in a four-bedroom that's really a two-bedroom with a plywood wall, so I don't think I'm raising any rents." If all you can afford is a crappy room in a jerry-rigged apartment because the rent is too expensive and you pay the rent for what you have, maybe you are part of the problem...
That was exactly my thought. "I'm paying too much for a shitty apartment. I'm not part of the problem."
no sleeves! (Score:3)
My arms are always the coldest part of my body.
If I'm chilly, putting on a vest ain't gonna help.
Members Only? (Score:2)
So they took the Members Only jackets from the 80's and removed the arms, and it is a thing again? Typical fashion trend...
We should (Score:3)
Fleece vests (Score:3)
Synthetic fleece. Basically plastic that slowly wears away as you move. I can almost see the trail of microplastics these hipsters are shedding.
How not-green of them.
Green ones... (Score:2)
The what? (Score:2)
I had to look up what this actually was, "oh, those!" - no idea what we call them in my neck of the woods - sleeveless jackets?
Given, over the last 2 years, I've worn mostly "lounge wear" - as in "tracky bottoms" (tracksuit trousers), t-shirts and ... slip on shoes (go grandad!), these new fangled inventions such as "vests" are astounding to me.
Tech-bro? - I mean, I've yet to actually meet one. They all seem to be motor mouth clueless dickwads that should really be in the marketing department, being given t
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We call them "body warmers" on this side of the Pond (and La Manche), and a million and one other companies sell them. They're moderately useful if the car's heating is borked or limited circumstances like that. But why on earth would you need anything like that at 37N, on a coast, where it's practically warm enough to be a nudist 10 months of the year.
I guess
Thanks for the warning (Score:1)