Walk through any party, club, or fete right now and you’ll see the same fashion rotation: Von Dutch hat, Hellstar/Godspeed tee, and any jeans with a hangtag lmaoo. It’s the national uniform at the moment — everyone’s in the same shoes, same brands, same colors.

What makes it worse: as we know Trinis love nothing more than the newest Jordan as soon as it releases (sometimes even before release, but we’ll discuss that later). And now everyone’s trying to match the same colour sneakers with the same hype brands. A recipe for wardrobe clones. 

At least if you’re wearing the same fit as your bredgin it’s probably because you planned it. Now image your team and a next team in the function wearing the same fit. Highly Likely, not recommened.

-       But why do we do that?

I remember going on the avenue for this carnival (March 2025), just when the Jordan 5’s black metallic came out, and if you can remember, that was one of the most hype releases for the year. On God, that sneaker and a black von dutch tee was the uniform this carnival. Specifically, the Von Dutch with the logo vertical and to the side lmaoo. Add a Von Dutch hat and you were him.

For some, for sure it’s validation. If you wear what everybody else is wearing, you’re guaranteed at least some approval — you’ll be “safe.” No one can tell you that you have an “outta timing” fit if its already approved by the people you saw it in first. For others, it’s simply the lack of creativity. Yuh can’t dress, simply put. Acquiring personal style requires experience, and plenty of people aren’t willing to risk the “miss” in the name of originality. So instead, the herd mentality is: buy what’s hot, wear it quick, move on to the next drop. That’s enough to show that you’re both ballin’ and that you know what’s trending.

And it’s not just on the consumer side, sellers are feeding the cycle too. Stocking orders of the same three or four “safe” brands and designs may guarantee quick flips, but it chokes the local fashion landscape. Instead of diversifying and experimenting with new labels or varied designs within a brand, they crowd the scene with duplicates. That’s not just boring — it’s bad business. A bottleneck like that makes shops indistinguishable from one another, when in reality, differentiation is the cheat code.

Imagine if retailers leaned into the culture, contextualized the drops, and broadened their selection? The industry could feed off creativity instead of cannibalizing itself. Clone fits would give way to unique styles, and Trini fashion could start looking like Trini fashion — not a blurry photocopy of global trends with a local price tag.

Truthfully, style thrives on individuality. Fitting in might feel safe, but standing out is what really makes a culture grow. And right now, the clone era might just be the wake-up call the scene needs.