Silicon Valley Street Style is a weekly feature that looks at the intersection of fashion, technology and taste.
Well, the Suitsy sure did blow up, didn’t it?
In the past week, the business suit onesie made an appearance on Good Morning America, graced the digital pages of GQ, and piqued the interest of thousands looking for good water cooler conversation starters.
Heck, I’ve used the topic of the Suitsy as friendly banter at dinners and in Lyft rides. “Have you heard of the Suitsy? No? You won’t believe this…”
But that’s the thing, is creator Jesse Herzog’s onesie phenomenon anything more than a Silicon Valley punchline, reminiscent of the “Yo” app that got so much attention without doing very much at all?
See Also: This Business Suit Onesie Is Ingenious Laziness In Clothing Form
The media (myself included) are eating up the Suitsy story because of it’s virality, the ever-coveted “WTF-factor”. Responses to the Suitsy are grouped into three camps—you either hate it, you love it, or you ironically love it and would buy it for some laughs. It’s with some difficulty that I don’t fall into category three.
Herzog knows that people are approaching his product with some side-eye and snark.
“It’s a serious product, but it also doesn’t hurt to have a sense of humor,” says Herzog, “I couldn’t help but think all the tech guys in San Francisco—with this somewhat negative stigma that they’re always in hoodies and they don’t care about dressing up a little—I thought this would be one less barrier to looking a touch more classy.”
I got the chance to experience the Suitsy in person at the Betabrand headquarters in San Francisco. I surprised myself by being sincerely excited to see the Suitsy—it was a bit like what seeing the lowest level of unicorn might be like.
I find about five minutes to spend with Herzog and the Suitsy, shoehorned between a CBS taping and a photoshoot with Betabrand. It’s a little strange to witness Bay Area native and genuinely nice guy Herzog handled like a celebrity in the midst of a media junket.
There’s a high chance the business suit onesie will prove to be just another useless Silicon Valley product. It has luckily found the sweet spot of virality at this very moment, but only time will tell if the product is practical and profitable. We’ll see.
For as much as I harp on the Suitsy, I was truly excited to see it in person and was just a little disappointed that I couldn’t try it on.
Photos by Stephanie Chan
