Who needs a coat when you can have a “scoat”?
Schlepping around a scarf in addition to a bulky winter coat is out and the most fashionable among us are opting for a two-for-one when it comes to winter dressing.
The rise of the Toteme scarf jacket — the so-called “scoat,” identifiable by the bold blanket stitch along the hem and the fringed wool scarf draped across the shoulders — has dominated street style for the past two years.
As the Scandinavian take on “quiet luxury” before it was cool, the hybrid coat with a built-in scarf has since skyrocketed to online virality — and, with it, has inspired an army of copycats.
While the coveted jacket from Toteme, a minimalist Swedish brand not unlike its luxe competitors like the Row or Jil Sander, rings in at a whopping $1,130, fashionistas can score a convincing dupe from budget-friendly retailers like Amazon or Cider, where prices typically fall under $60.
“What gets more attention is what gets replicated and promoted further because that’s how the feed works,” Kyle Chayka, the author of “Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture,” explained to the Wall Street Journal.
“What is a little bit popular becomes even more popular.”
Near-identical product duplicates — or “dupes,” as the kids say — have taken the internet-obsessed generation by storm.
According to data from the online shopping link platform LTK, searches for “scarf jackets” were up 400% over the past 90 days, per the Journal, while TikTok is chock-full of ‘fit checks featuring the infamous scoat.
“You go from zero scarf jackets to everyone having a scarf jacket, very, very quickly,” Chayka added.
While the pride of owning luxury was once found in the exclusive status associated with its high price tag, nowadays, Gen Z boasts their impressive finds snagged a steal of a deal, whether it be vintage, thrifted or a copycat. And the virality of certain, high-end products has only resulted in an influx of dupes.
“When you see it, you want to copy it,” Chayka said. “And there’s only one way of copying it, which is to buy it.”
That is not to say, however, that the items are counterfeits (we’re not talking about your Canal Street Goyard tote), but knockoff culture has become a murky gray area amplified by the success of fashion fashion, according to Vogue Business.
However, some brands are attempting to crack down on the proliferation of duped products; LVMH, the parent company of a multitude of luxury brands, recently partnered with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to quell the copycats.
And yet, it hasn’t stopped cost-savvy shoppers from hunting down deals.
Brittany Lorden, 30, who describes herself as having “Toteme taste on a Costco budget,” told the Journal that she opted for the Amazon version of the scoat after feigning for the touted scarf jacket. Dissatisfied with her cheaper purchase, however, the Baltimore-based fashionista purchased a similar, more costly coat from Quince, which quickly sold out after launching in the fall, per the Journal.
But, because style trends seem to die as quickly as they begin, the whiplash of the fad cycle and monotonous ubiquity of dupe culture is still loathed by some.
“In the last [few] years, there’s been a massive emphasis on buying purposefully and curating a capsule wardrobe. With that, there’s been a shift from purchasing trendy pieces to classic, more timeless pieces — and I feel that this coat fits the bill,” a luxury digital media planner Lauren Mazzarisi told Refinery29.
By the time UK fashion consultant Emma Hope Allwood finally saw the scoat in person, she said she was “completely over it,” she told the Journal, expressing her “fatigue” with the “trend-driven fashion culture” that appears to be “impossible to opt out of.”
To put it simply, she wrote on Instagram: “End the reign of terror.”
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