What Streetwear Brands Say About Your Music Taste

It’s hard to imagine a world in which music and fashion don’t go hand and hand—from superfans splurging on band merch to everyday listeners emulating the styles of big-time music celebrities. Given the bond between music consumption and clothing brands, we decided to use data from Chartmetric's Brands page to investigate what your favorite streetwear brands say about your taste in music.

Chartmetric Brands Data

With 8M+ artists and more than 1K different brands in the Chartmetric database, it's safe to say we have the most important brands covered for most artists out there, from big tech to large retailers and streetwear goliaths like Supreme, Stüssy, and Converse.

The primary method for tracking brand data focuses heavily on social media, especially Instagram. Every day, Chartmetric is bringing in data about mentions, followers, and hashtags in order to determine the overlap between artist audiences and brand audiences.

Overlaps that are statistically noteworthy are measured with "Brand Affinity Ratios," or how much more likely an artist's audience is to be interested in a brand than the average follower. For instance, a 2.0x Brand Affinity Ratio means that followers of a particular artist are twice as interested in a particular brand than the average Instagram user.

Knowing this, let's dig into some of the artists and corresponding Brand Affinities that you'll find on the Brand profile pages of Supreme, Stüssy, and Converse.

Supreme

It seems appropriate that our first brand be the king of modern-day hypebeasts: the almighty Supreme. And to no one's surprise, the Top 10 artists associated with Supreme fans feature luxury streetwear pioneer Virgil Abloh at No. 1, alongside a dream lineup of crowd-favorite Hip-Hop artists.

Because Supreme is targeted toward skateboarding and Hip-Hop culture, it makes sense to see rappers like Playboi Carti and Ski Mask The Slump God, both of whom are noted for more aggressive styles of Rap. Smokepurpp, the least followed artist on this list, is one of today's largest influencers in Underground Hip-Hop and Dark Trap, demonstrating that while most Supreme fans may listen mostly to mainstream Hip-Hop, they're also not afraid to dig deep.

We should note that Louis Vuitton Creative Director and Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh reigns supreme as both a cultural and musical inspiration to Supreme fans, even if music wasn't his primary creative outlet. Having gained recognition as a DJ in his late teens, Abloh released a handful of originals and remixes before he tragically died last year. He may not have been known as a musician, but it's safe to say Virgil landed the No. 1 spot on our list due to his lasting impact on fashion, art, and everything in between.

Stüssy

Similar to Supreme, Stüssy grew out of the Alternative/Hip-Hop scene in California after it was eagerly adopted by trendy surfers in the '80s. The brand has since been embraced by Punk and other subcultures, even after its global expansion in 1992. In a Nylon interview, Founder and CEO Shawn Stussy explains, "Everybody calls it surf wear, or urban streetwear, Punk, or surf street.... I don't name it, and I don't name it on purpose."

It's clear that Stüssy has no interest in being limited by definitions or boundaries, and after taking a look at the brand's top artists, the same certainly holds true for the music tastes of its followers.

At first glance, Stüssy's Top 10 has significantly smaller follower counts, suggesting that these artists are less-known than Supreme's Top 10. The list is also more diverse in terms of genre, featuring influences from J-Pop, Electronic, and Reggae. On average, Stüssy's Top 10 artists have audience's with a higher affinity ratio than Supreme's, suggesting the brand's nonconformist nature attracts fans who are dedicated to their own unique interests, taking pride in straying away from the status quo.

Converse

Last but not least is the OG of all streetwear: Converse. Created originally as a sneaker manufacturer in 1908, the company has since blossomed into a world-famous lifestyle and streetwear brand that markets, distributes, and licenses footwear, apparel, and accessories. While the brand has maintained its popular reputation among the grungy, alternative crowd, Converse has arguably become one of the most well-known and mainstream streetwear brands over the past two decades.

Evidence of its growing interest amongst conventional consumers explains why Converse's Top 10 includes more Pop-driven, radio-featured artists like Conan Gray and Travis Barker. Also, its massive success as a global brand may justify the presence of K-Pop icons NAYEON and G-Dragon, as well as Italian Rock band Måneskin.

The No. 1 spot, which belongs to Rap icon Tyler, The Creator is also no surprise given his massively successful partnership with Converse through his shoe brand Golf Le Fluer. Overall, Converse's music taste isn't necessarily something out of the ordinary, but its strong Top 10 lineup accurately displays its mainstream relevance in today's fashion industry.

While Chartmetric's Brand Affiliations page is merely a glimpse into the musical preferences of today's streetwear gurus, its insights certainly prove that the link between music and fashion is stronger than ever. Hopefully, these insights provide even more motivation for artists and their teams to keep their fingers on the pulse of fashion and seek out the right brand partnerships to level-up music, fashion, and culture.