Corona Utility does more than dabble in premium utility wares.
It’s one of those unfortunate coincidences, like sharing a name with a celebrity who gains a reputation for something sinister, but despite the global undermining of the word ‘corona’ (remember when Corona beer’s sales were reported to fall in at the start of the pandemic?), brands are resilient.
In fact, during the latter half of the pandemic, sales of Corona spiked in the UK. That’s the height of British irony, where you can imagine the sales being fueled by buying habits as complex as: “haha, corona.”
But it isn’t just a beer brand that shares its name with the virus, but Japan’s Corona Utility, who’ve been trading since 2014 – well before the pandemic – and styling their items, like Boonies, on skulls since then. Spooky.
The utility brand is built around functional, military and workwear aesthetics and practicalities. In fact, they speak the same language as many of Oi Polloi’s latest imports, where technicalities and design are brought to the forefront above everything else.
One of the easiest items to take for granted in a shirt. There are shirts – a work shirt, for example – and then there’re geometric utility shirts. Corona Utility’s shirt features details in every imaginable spot, with mesh vents and six pockets – two of which are seam-situated and relatively hidden behind press studs. And then there’s the pattern, weave and fabric. It’s a humble shirt that gradually reveals itself to you, like a gift that keeps on giving.
Check more of the brand out at Oi Polloi.
