Loyal Army Clothing

I was cutting through Broadway Shopping Plaza when I saw a florescent green stereo speaker propping open a shop door. New shop! Of course I walked in to check it out.
Loyal Army Clothing is part of the whole «cute and weird» movement that even Target has picked up on: Asian-​inspired cartoon character-​branded bags, t-​shirts, hoodies and coin purses. With a dash of the ugly doll movement. You know what I mean
As the website explains (
):
«Here at Loyal Army we live in the world of Kawaii, which is Japanese for ‘cute’. Our bright bold colors and our crazy characters just want to make friends with you and invite you to join our army of cuteness.»
Yeah, ride that Kawaii wave. The less cynical side of me thinks this is a fun store to browse in, and one a tweenie would probably love. I briefly considered a pink canvas coin purse with a cupcake on it. The sales assistant told me there was 20% off your entire purchase today.
I hesitated but only briefly. Firstly, I wasn’t that wild about the characters (see below). Also, the colors are very bright. I like that sort of thing but in small doses.
However, I did love one thing: the way they decorated the cash register area. It was plastered with cassette tapes in neat lines. (I remember when those were actually useful.) It was quite possibly the coolest part of the shop.
Prices seemed reasonable: something like $ 8 for a little cupcake coinpurse, $ 23 for a canvas tote bag.
I was going to write that their website seems very Facebook inspired in feel, and then I spotted this:
They’re ON Facebook.
It all feels a little too slickly marketed. I think for this merchandise to get you on an emotional level, you need characters borne out of a story, with a real environment and world they inhabit, like «Spirited Away» (
). These feel… soulless. I’m not particularly attached to an anonymous white fluffy cloud with a smiley face on it.
However, I wish them well and if they can turn a profit in this economy, more power to them.
Kawaii madness. It’s everywhere.