The logo for the Daily Beast's Obsessed website. It reads: 'Obsessed: What to Watch, Binge, See, & Skip'
DAILY BEAST
CrosswordNewsletters
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Obsessed
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Innovation
  • Opinion
  • World
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
CHEAT SHEET
    POLITICS
    • Biden World
    • Elections
    • Opinion
    • National Security
    • Congress
    • Pay Dirt
    • The New Abnormal
    • Trumpland
    MEDIA
    • Confider
    • Daytime Talk
    • Late-Night
    • Fox News
    U.S. NEWS
    • Identities
    • Crime
    • Race
    • LGBT
    • Extremism
    • Coronavirus
    WORLD
    • Russia
    • Europe
    • China
    • Middle East
    INNOVATION
    • Science
    TRAVEL
      ENTERTAINMENT
      • TV
      • Movies
      • Music
      • Comedy
      • Sports
      • Sex
      • TDB's Obsessed
      • Awards Shows
      • The Last Laugh
      CULTURE
      • Power Trip
      • Fashion
      • Books
      • Royalist
      TECH
      • Disinformation
      SCOUTED
      • Clothing
      • Technology
      • Beauty
      • Home
      • Pets
      • Kitchen
      • Fitness
      • I'm Looking For
      BEST PICKS
      • Best VPNs
      • Best Gaming PCs
      • Best Air Fryers
      COUPONS
      • Vistaprint Coupons
      • Ulta Coupons
      • Office Depot Coupons
      • Adidas Promo Codes
      • Walmart Promo Codes
      • H&M Coupons
      • Spanx Promo Codes
      • StubHub Promo Codes
      Products
      NewslettersPodcastsCrosswordsSubscription
      FOLLOW US
      GOT A TIP?

      SEARCH

      HOMEPAGE
      0

      Let Them Wear Diesel Jeans

      In the last great meltdown, there were soup lines. Now they’re lining up for premium denim. A New York Diary.

      Gay Talese

      Updated Jul. 14, 2017 6:04PM ET / Published Oct. 13, 2008 2:17AM ET 

      YOSHIKAZU TSUNO

      I’ve resided in New York City for fifty years, and I fancy myself a guy who gets around, but I’m regularly surprised by what I see in the streets. I guess this is one reason why I love living here—the scene is always changing, always in motion, and often in conflict with the version of events that the daily newspapers and TV broadcasts depicts as “reality.”

      This morning at 7 o’clock on my way to work at my writer’s hideaway, I saw about three thousand people (ranging in age from eighteen to thirty-eight) lined up to buy jeans at a shop across from Bloomingdale’s called Diesel. Although that shop has been at the site for years, I’ve never gone into it, for what it sells I’d never buy; but today, when I walked past Diesel, the front door was flanked by security guards controlling the crowds who wanted to go inside and pay $50 for a pair of jeans.

      I talked to many of these customers on line—there were single men, single women, with young children in carriages, young men with girl friends, people of all colors and all talking on cell phones, or listening to iPod music, or eating bagels and sipping coffee from cups…all waiting to get into this store to buy a pair of jeans for $50.

      We read about the city in financial ruin, and yet, here on Lexington Avenue (Main Street) there are three-thousand people wanting to spend fifty dollars on another pair of jeans.

      I thought to myself: We read about the city in financial ruin, we read the daily press with its dire prognostications about the collapse of our economy, we watched Charlie Rose on TV last night interviewing yet another numbed-out economist predicting doom and gloom, and lamenting the loss of trillions not only on Wall Street but on Main Street…and yet, yet, here on Lexington Avenue (Main Street) there are three thousand people wanting to spend fifty dollars on another pair of jeans! What gives? Should they be saving the fifty bucks, or putting it into Treasury Bills, or buying their out-of-work single-mom mother a new pair of shoes or a frozen dinner?

      I asked a lot of these people on line questions like that; and all they said, in essence, is that the $50 jeans were bargains they could not resist. The security guard told me that these jeans (Italian made) usually sell for one-hundred or two-hundred more. Still, I thought, must these people on line spend fifty-bucks on something they can do without? Apparently not. Moreover, they told me, they’ll also get for their fifty bucks not only a pair of jeans, but also a free pass to tomorrow’s concert somewhere in Brooklyn where the featured performers include M.I.A. and the N.E.R.D.S or whoever…(people I know next to nothing about, but my forty-year-old son-in-law told me these performers are “huge.”)

      But what does this say about the economy? This shop Diesel, before the day is done, will earn several thousands of dollars selling jeans, and yet we’re told by the media that the economy is tanking, nobody is buying anything, all shopkeepers are in foreclosure or are releasing their employees, etc. etc…

      Again, when I spoke to many of these people on line, not one of them said they were hurting financially, most of them were employed, none claimed to be worried about a lack of health care, and all were unconcerned about the financial state of the city or the nation.

      If we had conscription, half of these people would be in the army. But we don’t. And so they’re lined along Lexington, slowly moving toward the Diesel shop anticipating a new pair of jeans…

      You explain.

      Gay Talese

      Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.

      READ THIS LIST

      DAILY BEAST
      • Cheat Sheet
      • Politics
      • Entertainment
      • Media
      • World
      • Innovation
      • U.S. News
      • Scouted
      • Travel
      • Subscription
      • Crossword
      • Newsletters
      • Podcasts
      • About
      • Contact
      • Tips
      • Jobs
      • Advertise
      • Help
      • Privacy
      • Code of Ethics & Standards
      • Diversity
      • Terms & Conditions
      • Copyright & Trademark
      • Sitemap
      • Best Picks
      • Coupons
      • Coupons:
      • Dick's Sporting Goods Coupons
      • HP Coupon Codes
      • Chewy Promo Codes
      • Nordstrom Rack Coupons
      • NordVPN Coupons
      • JCPenny Coupons
      • Nordstrom Coupons
      • Samsung Promo Coupons
      • Home Depot Coupons
      • Hotwire Promo Codes
      • eBay Coupons
      • Ashley Furniture Promo Codes
      © 2023 The Daily Beast Company LLC