Realtree camo series#

A search for “ Realtree” on Depop renders nearly 2500 results. It has a “kind of naturalistic, dare I say, artistic approach,” he says. There is something un-camouflage about the patterns depicting, as Caramanica says, “A whole living garden,” making it whimsical compared to other patterns. “I think the detail of the camo and that photo quality lends it to being dressed up in kind of decadent, sophisticated ways,” says Senzel. It’s just another bold thing to mix into your wardrobe.īut Realtree’s photo-realistic quality and rich leaf and shadow details make the pattern feel more sophisticated than other prints. “There's a lot of people coming from rural or rural adjacent places, and I do think that wearing this does trigger a light nostalgia.'' In Caramanica’s opinion, Realtree lets new transplants to New York say, “'I'm urban and maybe even a little urbane, but not so much that I've been totally decontextualized from the place from which I come.'Ĭulturally, camouflage has become just another all-over print alongside the paisleys, flower patterns, and animal prints popularized by brands like Noah and 18 East. “There are a lot of transplants in these neighborhoods,” says Jon Caramanica, pop music critic and writer of the men’s Critical Shopper column at the New York Times. When it comes to camo, people would rather look like they kill deer than people.īut that rural quality is not always so politically charged. While other camouflage patterns’ military roots can pose an ethical minefield, as a hunting pattern Realtree is comparatively uncontroversial. Then, of course, there are the Realtree Crocs, which are hard not to spot on the hipper sidewalks of the city. On the other end of the New York fashion spectrum, Randy’s Garments released four head- to- toes Realtree designs.

Realtree camo series#

Online Ceramics has a trippy Realtree cap, while the cult brand Praying has a whole series of Realtree pieces, including its popular “ Slightly Fatter NY” baseball hats and a bikini set-plus a new skirt. Now, Realtree is popping up in more unexpected places. Streetwear caught on quickly, with brands like Supreme, Stüssy, and Nike working with Realtree on camouflage offerings. The brand naturally spread to adjacent lifestyle-focused territory with licensees like Wrangler and sponsorship deals with NASCAR. Quickly, Realtree became one of the most recognizable camouflage patterns in a booming market. The first Realtree pattern was hand-drawn by Bill Jordan, who founded the company in 1986, and was designed specifically for hunters. Technically, Realtree is a brand-its name has become a sort of metonym for the patterns it sells as “ Advantage Classic Camo” and “ Advantage Timber Camo.” There are a handful of other similar patterns made by other companies, like Mossy Oak, but Realtree is by far the most commonly sighted in New York. Even if you don’t know the name, you know the pattern: a camouflage made up of photo-realistic leaves, twigs, and bark usually used by those in more wooded locales than Canal St. But you may be forgiven for thinking just that, especially as it’s become hard to walk through Dimes Square without being confronted by a whole duck blind’s worth of Realtree camouflage.

As far as I know, hunting has not become a popular hobby in downtown Manhattan.