Greater>Than Clothing

I’m an Atlantic reader and an unabashed word-nerd, so naturally one of my favorite features is the Word Fugitives column by Barbara Wallraff, (who wrote a book of the same name). Readers write in with requests for words to express particular situations or feelings, and other readers try to coin terms to fit the bill. Wallraff sifts through the results then writes her column, highlighting representative and outstanding examples. It’s fun collective nerdery and there are usually one or two gems.

In the most recent issue, answers to the following prompt are given:

“that happy feeling of kinship one feels for the driver of a car of the same make and model as one’s own”

My favorite answers included carma, carcissism, carmraderie and autobond. I told you I was a word-nerd.

Two Greater>Than-related things caught my attention while I was reading this month’s column:

I realized that Word Fugitives is just like Greater>Than

In fact, it’s an almost perfect illustration of the “curated crowdsourcing” model we use. The editor sets the rules of the game, a community member provides a prompt to focus the creativity of the group, solutions are submitted, the editor sifts through the submissions, then publishes the results back to the group. So simple!

Over time, the community becomes self-defining; the tone and quality of the output determined, is maintained and evolves over time through the collective efforts of the community. Think of an Ouija board. Nobody is “controlling” it, but everyone has a hand in determining direction. To put it another way, it is controlled by everyone and no one (no “one”).

One submission in particular blew me away

Kurt Vonnegut*, the revered author who died earlier this year, supplied the inspiration for Alan Feuer’s idea. He wrote:

“In Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut coined granfalloon for the grand concept of a happenstance group. The special-case group of same-make purchasers might logically be a brandfalloon…”

Brandfalloon>awesome! I love that word. I think it points to significant truths about the nature of brands.

The relationship between a person and a brand can seem very personal, and it is in important ways. Sometimes it feels like a product has been created just for you, and you can feel betrayed by a brand when it goes in a direction with its product that you don’t agree with. There’s a certain intimacy that develops between people and products (especially apparel, cars and consumer electronics) that, transitively, can attach to the brand as well. On the other hand, if it only appeals to a single person, it’s not much of a brand. A brand gains a lot of its value from the brandfalloon, the group of people who use or wear the products. The brandfalloon lends credibility and can heighten the connection between person and product by making the product a symbol of membership in the group.

If you’re like me, seeing someone driving the same car as you does inspire a “feeling of kinship” as the prompt states, but it’s a little more complicated than that. I find myself checking out the other driver, and I think what I’m trying to see is whether they are like me. Each instance can reinforce the brand bond or undermine it as I contemplate whether my growing understanding of the brandfalloon’s membership corresponds with my self-concept. Overwhelmingly, the other drivers of my car (Infiniti G20) are women. Does that mean (I’m forced to ask) that I drive a “girl car”? Maybe. The key is that if so, this has been determined by the brandfalloon, not the manufacturer.

Acknowledging that the brandfalloon wields a tremendous amount of power for any brand, we (Greater>Than Clothing) are working to create a company that includes the community systematically. Our products, policies, etc. will be collectively determined as we seek to break down the traditional barriers between “us” and “you”. Everyone is Greater>Than.

*On a personal note, my mother was lucky enough to get to study under Vonnegut as an undergrad in Edinburgh. A shared love for his work is one of our key literary bonds. Cat’s Cradle, mentioned above, is one of my favorite books of all time.