What's 'Delicore,' and How Can Your Restaurant Customers Embrace This Trend?

There have been some creative names for fashion movements over the years. Gorpcore, which celebrates outdoors-influenced apparel like cargo pants, fleece vests and jackets, with influences from brands like The North Face or Patagonia. There's also "Normcore," which centers around basics—nothing flashy or too ostentatious. Just, you know, normal.

Now there's "Delicore," and it's something that promotional products distributors should pay attention to, especially if their clients are in the food space.

You might have seen some celebrities on social media rocking apparel or carrying tote bags with the names of famous (or not so famous) New York restaurants. A couple of years ago, Jake Gyllenhaal helped design a hoodie for a Russ & Daughters, a New York restaurant, with proceeds benefitting the Independent Restaurant Coalition during the pandemic. Last year, NYC bakery Zabar's created a fashion line with Coach.

Just like people want to show their local pride through sports merchandise, restaurants give people a chance to show where they're from, where they've been, and what they like.

"When you have a piece of clothing that is the branding of the deli, it’s almost like wearing a sports jersey or a band shirt,” Bryan Seversky, creator of the fashion brand OJM, told Salon. “You're showing allegiance to something. I think what people are drawn to about the deli is that it’s a spot for the everyday man. And it’s about persevering this older, more traditional, less in-your-face aesthetic that’s a bit more blue collar.”

It might be less in-your-face, but it still needs to be fashionable. Restaurants, delis, and coffee shops want their merchandise to be worn and used often, so that means the logo needs to be cool, the decoration needs to be good quality, and the actual article of clothing or accessory must be something that they're comfortable wearing or using.

Right now, that means more minimal designs—which also means fewer colors to imprint on an item—boxier fits for apparel, heavy-duty drinkware, canvas totes, and an aesthetic that looks like it could be from a fashionable brand rather than just a restaurant.

So, is your favorite sandwich shop doing enough to market itself with promos? Probably not, because they're spending their precious time perfecting the art of the hoagie. And rightfully so! So, that means it's your job as the distributor to give them a hand here.