Maybe it's 'Stranger Things' reviving the '80s era cool of Steven Spielberg movies and Stephen King novels. But whatever it is, businesse are into it.
On the exhibition floor at Comic-Con International in Booth 1028, there is a tiny living room with a brown leather armchair at the center of it. Colorful graphic prints hang on the walls, and there’s a Darth Vader bust, a tape deck and obsolete gaming consoles scattered around the space. The aesthetic is distinctly out of the late 1980s/early 1990s.
The booth belongs to Neff, an apparel brand headquartered in Irvine. Founded in 2002, the company started out making beanies before expanding into T-shirts, sweatshirts and other streetwear geared towards surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders.
“The point is to merge that nostalgic vibe of the ‘80s and ‘90s with today’s streetwear,” said Neff brand ambassador Ediri Aggreh. “People here are really into it.”
While Comic-Con attendees who want to revisit the past have long been able to collect back issues or stream old B-horror exploitation films, the ‘80s and ‘90s vibe seems even stronger than usual here on the exhibition floor.
Maybe it’s “Stranger Things” reviving the ’80s era cool of Steven Spielberg movies and Stephen King novels. But whatever it is, plenty of businesses large and small are leaning in at the convention.
According to Aggreh, the booth has seen nearly 5000 people stop by from Wednesday’s Preview Night to Friday when we spoke. Neff created licensed exclusives just for con-goers, from Spider-Man and Venom sweatshirts to Mickey Mouse backpacks. There’s Stitch from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch surfing on hoodies, and Bart Simpson skateboarding on T-shirts. Everything is brightly colored and boldly printed – the classic look of the ‘80s SoCal surf and skate scene.
“Kids like this stuff too,” Aggreh said, “but primarily, you’re speaking to some of the older adults with these designs.”
Further along the floor at the booth of Brittnee Braun, a clothing designer from Sherman Oaks, are skirts printed with Rubik’s cubes and characters from Super Mario Bros., originally released for Nintendo consoles in 1985.
“I think the retro influence has come back quite a bit in the past couple of years,” Braun says.
While she has had booths for the last five years at WonderCon in Anaheim, this year is Braun’s first to exhibit her clothing designs at SDCC. An interest in cosplay led her to make her own clothing, and then eventually open a full store to sell her skirts with fun prints and large pockets, among other clothing.
The Rubik’s cube and Polaroid prints have been very popular with buyers, she said, especially as they were exclusively made for Comic-Con.
“It seems like people are really into remembering old toys,” she said, before confirming our suspicions. “Especially with ‘Stranger Things’ dipping their toe in.”
Selling clothing printed with images of the goth punk band Misfits or pins of Ultraman, the hero of a long-running Japanese TV series, is Yesterdays Enamel Pins, a store Dana Jazayeri co-founded with artist Suman Chatterjee in 2014 in downtown Santa Ana.
The brand is all about nostalgia “for the deep fandom,” he said. “The things that inspired us are what we loved to watch, what we loved to play when we were younger.”
And so far this year, “business has been amazing,” Jazayeri said. “We’ve had a constant line since we opened on Wednesday.”
