Tyler the Creator Brand Analysis

Tyler the Creator is a Grammy award-winning musician, making his debut with his mixtape “Bastard” in 2009 and most recently earning a Grammy nomination, and subsequent win, with his latest album, “Igor.” 

However, while his music has always embodied abrasive uniqueness, it is his style that continues to elevate his brand above the rest. 

Created in 2011, Golf Wang was a chance for Tyler the Creator to begin his own brand which was heavily influenced by his musical evolution, and reflected that as the years passed. With Golf Wang, he was able to pinpoint his streetwear style and develop it into something that catered specifically to the audience that his music had already procured. 

One can only guess what the future will look like for Tyler the Creator and Golf Wang, but it is certainly looking bright. (Golf Wang Website)

Tyler the Creator has been building his own brand, both through collaborations and seasonal clothing drops, since 2013. What started as a brand of quirky designs on t-shirts in a Vans store became a fully developed range from a designer brand, now featured in its own runway shows. 

But it wasn’t always like this. In fact, Golf Wang continued to work with vibrant colors and edgy motifs until around 2017, when he debuted the winter collection and instead introduced specific statement pieces as well as the now notable flame design in his brand. 

While this wasn’t the first instance of Tyler evolving his brand’s style, it was one of the first instances of him introducing less casual pieces of clothing. This collection saw Golf Wang release jackets and play with different fabrics, something that appeared to be a huge influence on their 2018 collection as well. 

While Tyler was collaborating with Vans as early as 2012, it was his later collaborations with Converse that allowed him to refine what would set him apart from other brands and make his easily recognizable. 

Tyler’s Converse collaborations reflected pastels and florals, something that was already reflected in his music at the time. His album “Flower Boy” came out in 2017 and felt like a disembarkment from his previous albums and an exploration into a new sound. 

This era saw Tyler create his own version of Converse One Stars. While he was exploring his own brand signature and how he wanted to evolve it, Tyler was able to continue to cater to the same audience that he always had: skateboarding and streetwear. 

In another continuation of change, Golf Wang began to debut softer silhouettes and clothes that could still be accredited as streetwear but felt more polished overall. But this wasn’t a chance occurrence, and it wasn’t something that came out of nowhere. 

Throughout his brand’s lifetime, the collections began to occasionally swap out older, staple pieces for newer pieces. While he still stuck to basics, there was a subtle shift from switching T-shirts out with sweatshirts, and then sweatshirts out for coats. However, he was still able to make the collections feel like they were as they always had been: edgy motifs and vibrant colors that still kept him in touch with his curated audience. 

By mixing both feminine and masculine designs together, he was able to create a brand that not only reflected his musical evolution but also his own. As the years have passed, his audience has been able to see Tyler effortlessly emerge as someone who is altogether new and entirely the same as he always was. One can only guess what the future will look like for Tyler the Creator and Golf Wang, but it is certainly looking bright.