NBA player Rob Dillingham seems to be helping the financial crisis of 2008 have a moment 17 years after the fact.
This week, the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard was photographed wearing a hoodie emblazoned with a giant money sign, among other graphics. The 20-year-old is an alum of Donda Academy, founded by Kanye West, whose financial crisis-era creative output includes Graduation (2007) and 808s & Heartbreak (2008).
"2008 Global Financial Crisis" reads the text spread across the zip-hoodie’s chest, a nod to the Great Recession-fueling crisis once described in a federal inquiry as an "avoidable' disaster" stretching across George W. Bush's administration.
Some were quick to look for a deeper meaning to the hoodie, wondering, whether genuinely or in jest, if this was intended as commentary on the current state of affairs in the U.S.
There’s certainly no arguing against the fact that a lot of things have a distinct unsettling feel to them right now. Put another way, is this hoodie a recession indicator?
Others set aside impending economic woes to seek a confirmed identification on the hoodie itself, ultimately leading the world to the brand Praying.
As of this writing, the Financial Crisis Destroyed Hoodie — set at $180 and described as having "extreme distressing" — is still listed on the brand’s online shop. All sizes are currently sold out, but you can sign up for notifications about future availability.
Thanks to this hoodie, you may very well have found yourself in a doom spiral brought on by thoughts of the viciously cyclical nature of humankind, repeating mistake after mistake, crisis after crisis.
But in times of grave stress, there is a remedy: Spend $180 on a hoodie commemorating the 2008 financial crisis, and perhaps in turn, the many crises of the future.
