MISSION STATEMENT
THE GREY SWEATSUIT REVOLUTION is a voluntary experiment in personal and social expression via one's superficial identity being limited to a grey sweatsuit (except for when at work) for the entire spring of 2004.

1.
The battle against fashion needs to be fought differently. We cannot simply dress weirder than the mainstream in an attempt dull our sense of complicity with western consumer society. Dissent through conscious differentiation simply feeds the fashion system by providing it with fresh expression to appropriate.

Look at trucker hats. Artists rip off the blue-collar worker because it’s cheap, edgy, ironic, kitsch, whatever. Subsequently the fashion system rips off the artists. Thanks for coming out rebel! What’s next? Cow shit covered boots? Awesome! Get a life.

The fashion system operates as a parasite on the body of authenticity. It feeds off cultures and subcultures. The pattern is obvious and so should our reaction. Stop fanning the flames. Let that shit burn out. It’s boring anyway.

The grey sweatsuit is our Trojan horse. We create a street trend, a visible statement, the system co-opts it without understanding it’s significance and then... BAM! Grey sweatsuits all up in the area! Our symbolism spreads like anthrax across the anorexic bodies of fashionistas everywhere! They look frantically for the next trend but there is nothing. Only grey sweatsuits. What’s hot for next season? How about the death of your vanity?

The ultimate rebellion is to be generic and very comfortable. Fuck using clothes as a form of expression. Think of something more valid, like what you do with your time or what you have to say. See what happens when your clothes don’t speak for you. Oh shit! How will I be cool? Maybe I’ll have to participate in something…

2.
THE GREY SWEATSUIT REVOLUTION does not take place in any one location, it takes place everywhere! When in a grey sweatsuit anyplace you decide to go the revolution will go with you, whether on the bus staring at strangers, in the market buying lentils or in the club scoping some ass. But you won’t be alone! Socials will be held throughout the spring in all the participating cities (Toronto, London, New York, Paris, Halifax). There will be parties, parades, bike rides, nature walks, and reenactments.

A Deployment Party is being planned in each city with the arrival of spring. When individuals do not have their own sweatsuit (due to laziness or lack of organizational skills) they may pick up a pre-ordered suit from us (at cost) and have fun mixed with more fun while dancing as a writhing mass of hot (meaning both warm and attractive) dissent in the most appropriate clothing ever designed for such an activity.

3.
We see them everyday on the street and at our local bars, we avoid eye contact, we look away hiding our embarrassment. No longer! Fashion victims everywhere need our help. Want to participate? Please do!

All you have to do is get a grey sweatsuit and wear it as much as you can throughout the spring of 2004 (March 21st to June 21st). You should be able to obtain one in your hometown, if not contact us and we will arrange for a suit to be waiting for you at one of the socials.

We understand that money is an important factor in staying alive and so on. With this in mind, unless you have a cool boss, wearing a grey sweatsuit at work is not necessary. It would be awesome but it’s not necessary.

Participants are encouraged to submit their experiences stories and ideas revolving around grey sweatsuits so that the trajectory of the movement may be properly documented. As it stands now, we’re looking forward to various creative submissions ranging from a sultry grey sweatsuit burlesque revue, to conventional academic criticism, to photographs of you at your sister’s wedding rockin’ the sweats!