Anthropic · Palantir · OpenAI · Google · Stripe · Apple · The Verge
Palantir’s true believers are wearing this jacket
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The data mining company with extensive defense contracts is making merch to signal which side you’re on.
Key facts
- At $239 and in bright blue and black options, the jacket looks like a standard offering that has, by way of photographer Bill Cunningham, trickled down into mainstream menswear for years
- Still, by the end of its on-sale day, the 420 units Palantir produced had sold out. (Palantir declined to comment for this story.)
- Most of the garments do not obviously signal these things, there’s no stars and stripes iconography or STAND FOR THE FLAG, KNEEL FOR THE FALLEN-type slogans
- Palantir’s efforts to speak directly to its base of fans also brought to mind a more quaint branding stunt: an Anthropic pop-up last October, hosted in the West Village in New York City
Summary
In late April, Palantir, the software company that, in recent years, has perhaps become best known for its defense industry contracts and work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced that it would be adding new products to its merch store. At $239 and in bright blue and black options, the jacket looks like a standard offering that has, by way of photographer Bill Cunningham, trickled down into mainstream menswear for years. The jacket ruffled feathers, to put it lightly. For over a year, along with its merch, Palantir has been trying to sell the idea that it is, actually, a lifestyle brand. Most of the garments do not obviously signal these things, there’s no stars and stripes iconography or STAND FOR THE FLAG, KNEEL FOR THE FALLEN-type slogans.