The Harvard Business Review case study article "Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design" emphasizes creating products and services that emphatize with customers in relation to their moods, emotions, needs, wants, and desires.
A current industry trend towards clothing has been the love and fad for stonewashed and prewashed jeans. The major player sporting these kind of styles is GAP INC. (consisting of Old Navy (low-tier), GAP (mid-tier), and Banana Republic (upper-tier). GAP INC. has captured a market niche with regards to trendy "antique-type" clothing. The concept of the design of the jeans is to portray a hip and trendy casual wear primarily aimed at the younger crowd. The jeans are designed to seem as the denim is faded through many wash cycles which gives it the chic distinguised characteristic with loose and visible incomplete stitching and "wear and tear" on the pockets to make it seem that the jeans are so-called "beat-up" that give it a vintage look from the 1960's-1970's.
However, the jeans do have their acclaimed critics who are either opposed or in favor of the jeans. As for the defiant, it seems as they are offended by the image of the jeans as class-less and intended to be "dirty." It portrays a image of a potential homeless "pauper" who has bought the jeans through either a thrift shop or Goodwill. Since they are perceived as badly beaten due to their fadedness nature by being washed over and over again abusively and having open holes with loose stitching through the knee-cap area.
The opposers are also outraged and furious and outraged at the "price-tag" of these jeans that run about $60-$70. There main argument is why should we feel like paying this erroneous amount for piece of so-called "thrash" that will degrade us and make a "fool" out of ourselves.
Fortunately, the folks for the jeans are fanatics with this phenomenon. The jeans have become somewhat of a "nostalgic" memory that they go back and relate to their childhood back in the 1960's-1970's where everything was so trendy with the "hippie" culture that emphasized it was "cool" to have long shaggy hair with fuzzy beards complimenting a carefree and innocent environment. The fans feel rejuvenated and enlightened to race to the shelves and crank out $60-$70 for a pair of these jeans. It's a rebellious revoution of the denim jean. The jeans for the in favor of are ment to be cool and relaxed at the same time conveying a person's individualistic freedom of self-expression.
The spark of innovation through empathic design in regards to authentic vintage jeans is not so much emphatical with respects to the opposing critics than with the in favor of crowd. However, the jeans strike an equal balance between the new and old with different perspectives of the varying views at stake. The futurists might be suggesting to cross-over this trendy design for the love of classical and vintage automobiles and once again rebirthing the love for the original television format in black and white. Only time and taste will reveal what's next to come.
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You express an interesting idea that manufacturing new "old" clothes is an example of empathic design, observing people buying vintage clothing and giving them new clothes that combine old and new. You speculate that the popularity of these clothes might be correlated with the renewed popularity of cars from the sixties and seventies and that it might even extend to the resurgence in popularity of the B&W TV.
All these ideas are really interesting but would have greater authority if you quoted someone, like a critic or consumer, saying they found the well-worn designs "class-less and intended to be dirty." Exactly who are these "opposers?" If you do that then you take your views from imagining there are these "opposers" out there to actually pointing a few of them out. I like that you are trying to bring in alternative viewpoints but they need to be real viewpoints.
Watch the clarity of your writing. You say: "not so much emphatical with respects to the opposing critics than with the in favor of crowd." What does that mean? It may help to write one day, and then come back and read it over the next day so to see your writing with fresh eyes.
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