Hot Topic

Corny clothing that is cheaply made and designed. It makes a mockery of goth by categorizing it along with punk and club kid. Back in the days when kids going goth actually made their own clothing and ripped their own fishnets, was much more interesting than mass produced red and black striped arm warmers. The shoes are cheaply made platforms that don't crease well and don't make it past a rain storm without the glue coming undone. The black clothing is usually some cheap polyester blend with an unflattering contrast stitching. This clothing isn't different...its just plain corny. Although, the newer buyers have sought out Japanese streetwear to influence and inspire their newer lines, each season just looks like a rip of H.Naoto gone wrong...dead wrong. Not a cool dead, an evil dead, or even a spooky kind of dead...just a dead wrong like a dead end hit or miss...Hot Topic missed it by a mile. Sorry kids...I wish they could have been as creative as they wanted to be. more

Despite all of the negatives of repackaging classics as overpriced junk, Hot Topic does have it's positives. Earlier this year, I wandered in searching for body jewelery. I was given great service in selecting what I wanted. Their prices are very reasonable. I paid $15 for a 6 pack of eyebrow rings. Compared to the $16 I would pay at my piercing parlor whenever I would lose a ball off the bar, it's a bargain. Additionally, when I went there they had some bargain priced clearance items in the back of the store. If you buy things on sale, you can certainly expand your wardrobe at a reasonable cost. more

Oh, Hot Topic, how I loathe you. Lurking in the seedy back alleys of suburbia, hiding in shadows of unchecked mall culture, taking underground and retro pop icons and repackaging them for the masses with inferior quality. Your clothing's stupid (you'll never convince me that pants falling off of twiglike boys are anything else), shoddy, overpriced, and just not that funny. I'd say you're useful for distributing Metropolis Records samplers, but that's about it; I don't want those kids at my club night, thinking music's cool because the found it at Hot Topic rather than developing a style of their own. Screw you. more