This splinter began to happen in the late 1960s, according to Chrisman-Campbell. “It wasn’t until later that an overtly racist wing splintered off and ‘skinhead’ became synonymous with white supremacy.” “They were the original ‘skinheads’ because of their buzzed haircuts,” says fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, author of Worn on This Day. The look first took off in multicultural immigrant neighborhoods in London and was connected to a new wave of West Indian music, including reggae and ska. Young people at the time put their own spin on these shirts, wearing them with skinny jeans and closely cropped hair. Fred Perry’s polo shirts were particularly popular because they were affordable but also conveyed a clean-cut, preppy look that had previously been associated with the upper classes. At the start, the brand was a symbol of pride and solidarity among the working class in England.
The company was founded by Fred Perry, the son of a working-class socialist member of parliament, who became a Wimbledon tennis champion at a time when tennis was an elitist sport. Last week, the brand said it would stop selling this particular shirt in North America as a way of distancing itself from the group. The group made headlines last week when President Trump refused to disavow them at the presidential debate, instead telling them to “stand by.” That night, Google searches for the Proud Boys spiked, as did searches for Fred Perry, which has become the group’s de facto uniform.
While group leaders deny being white supremacists, they have nonetheless appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings such as the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Most recently, its $95 polo shirts have been adopted by the Proud Boys, a group of self-described “western chauvinists” who espouse far-right rhetoric. Fred Perry, a brand known for preppy streetwear, has been associated with far-right groups since shortly after it was founded in 1952, as many historians have pointed out.