Food trucks may be quick, full of variety, delicious, and on every corner in your city of choice. And though the mobile gastronomy boom has kept urban-dwellers fed, the truth is the food truck vogue has passed. It’s no longer a fad; it’s here to stay. What, then, will be the next market to take its vending to the streets?
Fashion, of course. The Associated Press takes a look at the burgeoning mobile boutique movement, where vendors set up the racks from their stores inside vans and trucks and take them to different places in a city. The approach seems to be a success. If you can grab a sandwich while walking to work, why not grab a pair of pants, too?
One of the vendors featured in the story is the StyleLiner, a former potato chip truck transformed into chic shop that traverses concrete. Started by former Jones Apparel Group trend director Joey Wolffer, the StyleLiner is stocked with pieces its founder handpicks, alongside some of Wolffer’s own creations. And naturally, it’s stationed all summer at various stops in the Hamptons.
“I wanted relationships with customers,” Wolffer told the AP. “I wanted to get out there and work with people and meet new people all the time.”
She added that the first summer she hit the road clothes-in-tow, in 2010, she made a profit.
Outside of New York there’s Bootleg Austin, a shoe store based out of an Airstream trailer, and the Fashion Truck, which zips around Boston.
But will the fashion truck trend take off like food trucks did a few years back? It certainly isn’t hard to picture boutiques going mobile in Williamsburg, or perhaps even Soho. Now they have to figure out where to put the changing rooms, as swapping pants in the street will probably not fly.
Visit Artinfo.com/fashion for more fashion and style news.