Silicon Valley's biggest players are increasingly turning to fashion to enhance their brand image, with companies like Palantir, Anthropic, and OpenAI launching clothing lines and collaborating with high-end retailers. Palantir recently released a $239 denim chore coat, described as 'rugged utility, enduring style,' which sold out within hours. The company's head of strategic engagement, Eliano Younes, stated the jacket is part of a commitment to 're-industrializing America,' though critics note Palantir's controversial work with the Trump administration and Israel.
The chore coat, a durable French worker's jacket, has become a symbol of casually alternative taste, making it attractive to tech firms seeking cultural capital. Anthropic partnered with Air Mail for pop-up shops in New York and London, while OpenAI sells nostalgic long-sleeved T-shirts on a 90s-style website. These moves are part of a broader trend of 'taste-washing,' where tech companies attempt to soften their image through fashion.
The Met Gala saw tech executives like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sergey Brin in attendance, with Amazon donating $10m for a table. Zuckerberg has notably cultivated a personal style, wearing Bode shirts and attending Prada's show at Milan Fashion Week. According to Kyle Chayka in the New Yorker, this shift represents an effort to give 'anti-humanist technologies a veneer of liberal humanism.'
