Eshay

A major component of the subculture, fashion plays an important role in denoting ones involvement in the Eshay scene. Distinctive outfits trace their early origins to the emerging late-1990s to 2000s street style scene, where cuffed track-suit pants, windbreaker jackets (commonly Sergio Tacchini or Nautica), popped-collar polos and bent-brim dad hats or Nike dri-fit caps balanced precariously on the crowns of one's head began to gain popularity.[2] By the 2000s, the influence of gabber and hardstyle was evident, as music festivals such as DEFQON1 and Stereosonic became popular in Sydney with people in the lad clothing style, as bum-bags became critical to the emerging uniform. While the aesthetic associated with Lads has changed over time depending on which city/area, the 2000s aesthetic very-much followed a uniform of: striped polo shirts with popped-collars, high-waisted sports shorts, Nike TN sneakers and bumbags slung over one shoulder, brands such as Saucony, Henley's, DADA supreme and Canterbury NZ we’re popular at the time.

Sign at the front of Acer Bank Arena prohibiting Lad clothing from being worn inside the stadium 2008 Many venues banned a variety of stigmatised clothing items due to general perceptions of wearers causing problems.

Considered to be the defining element of Eshay fashion was the introduction of the Nike TN, an expensive sneaker adorned with eye-catching colours.[5] Sportswear stores in Western Sydney have consistently recorded the highest sales of TNs in Australia, though the shoe was divisive, largely stigmatised by the mainstream who associated it with criminality.[6][7] The wearing of Nike TN's, as well as Shox and Tailwinds (commonly referred to as Jailwinds) denote street-credibility and esteem within the prison-system respectively, as both shoes require the wearer to defend them should another group of “Lads” seek to rob them.[8]

In the beginning of 2013 the TN still mostly maintained its criminal reputation, the conservative sector of society were still terrified of the sneakers silhouette and the TN faithful were still wearing them with unwavering pride.

Eventually, from the rise of newer Australian rap music, and it being pushed further into mainstream popularity and spreading the styles reach across the country, leading to widespread appropriation from middle-class school children and Hipsters wearing the style ironically, while fashion publications began to appropriate Eshay aesthetics into contemporary designs.[7]

The ironic appropriation of sneakers once stigmatised for their associations with criminality, poverty and drug-use has become widespread across the country,[9] in turn slowly killing the sneakers shady reputation. Troubled teenagers from dysfunctional backgrounds sporting the style on the other hand, still often target middle-class people appropriating it.

As nowadays, youthes from low socio-economic areas in Australia have began to make more money from music,cetc., their fashion statements set a higher standard of fashion among their peers, especially in some Sydney suburbs such as Bankstown, New south wales, ultimately adopting accessories from luxury European brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, leading to some Lads buying replica designer items. This helped UK Drill rise in popularity in Australia in early 2019, with its heavy use of luxury brands and similar clothing style appealing to Australian listeners. As well as a move away from the traditionally white-working class culture represented in popular Australian Hip-hop to that which incorporates the styles of the various ethnic groups that make up Australia's working-class.[5]

”Eshay” fashion is appropriated/styled differently, depending on the popular styles/trends of the different areas that local lads live in, for instance most young lads in middle-class areas or outside cities less socially affected by the sub-culture but listen to Aussie Hip-Hop artists are more likely to wear skater/scooter brands such as Thrasher, Supreme, American sports-team apparel and other clothing items more influenced by the American Skater culture that previously dominated the Urban scenes in their local areas rather than clothing with a distinct Australian street credibility.

In underclass Inner-city Sydney public housing pockets, Cargo shorts, GANT and Calvin Klein clothing, ASICS gel Kayanos/Quantums and many other trends have been widely worn by local youths for decades, and only now spreading in popularity outside the city, coinciding with the popularity of local rapper Spanian who helped export the trend to fans outside his area. Most of the clothing brands and defining components of “adlay” style come from the Sydney Inner-city.

Shaved legs has been a long regarded symbol for wealth and power in Lad culture, believing to originate from the “boob” (prison) where inmates shave their legs as a part of the inside culture of cleanliness and masculinity.[10] The common fashion trend in Sydney, for men to often wear bright women's coloured trainers allegedly came from jail as well.

Further out west to the lower-middle class Canterbury-Bankstown area, the infamous presence of Middle-Eastern organised crime gangs in the 2000s heavily influenced the local underworld cultures uniform, coming along with bigger money, came a higher standard of fashion, with upper echelon criminals complementing their expensive sportswear (notably Givenchy and Armani Exchange) with Gucci Hats, Louis Vuitton Bags, G-star raw etc. and tattooing their ankles. With the new standard spreading to the rest of Sydney and ultimately across the country, with often younger “lads” buying fake designer to look like the older criminals in their areas.

A recognisable recent aesthetic from 2017 onwards follows with ankle socks with Nike air max or ASICS gel trainers, cargo shorts or cuffed cargo pants (Henley's/G-star RAW/Industrie) along with tight fit hoodies/trackies from brands such as Nike, Nautica, Hilfiger, GANT, Russell Athletic, Calvin Klein, Ellesse, Le Coq Sportif etc. , and recently North Face, Hugo Boss, Emporio Armani 7 etc. (derived from recent British influence), as well as Nike AW84 caps or Gucci hats.

Due to their reputation as a status symbol among Sydney's working-class, most “eshay” brand names are common around many disadvantaged areas among people of a wide variety of ages.

Lads have often been synonymous with Australian hip hop in its various forms. In the early 2000s the most closely associated variety was gutter rap or lad rap which often contains lyrics depicting criminality, drug use and poverty. Gutter rap artists such as Campbelltown's Kerser, Hurstville's Skeamo and Nter, and Blacktown's Fortay rap primarily about Australian working-class lifestyle and issues (such as crime, drug addictions and financial struggles), similar to traditional American Gangsta rap. Unlike most popular artists in the Australian hip hop scenes, which have proper mainstream presence and support, gutter rap has remained largely underground on the internet due to associating with a stigmatised style. However some artists from the genre have gained mainstream recognition and success, an example being Kerser's second album No Rest for the Sickest, which peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[11]

While Australian hip hop and gutter rap were once considered a genre dominated by Australia's urban white working class, this changed rapidly following the advent of Australian Drill in 2018/19. The prolific rise to fame of Mount Druitt outfit Onefour brought a refreshing change to the hip hop scene, with production heavily influenced by UK drill, Afrobeats, traditional Polynesian music and trap. Onefour, who often reference Eshay culture and language in their lyrics, prompted a music revolution with various groups with Polynesian, Arabic, African and Indigenous heritage coming to the forefront of Australian music. [12] While UK Drill echoes the Roadman subculture of the UK, in Australia the drill scene is born from the Sydney Searchers subculture, nowadays called Lads or Eshays, which has seen a massive revival in popularity. [13]

In Sydney, Gabber music and the Hakken dance it is accompanied by has been popular amongst Lads, as from the mid-2000s, music festivals such as Defqon1 and Stereosonic became popular places to rave and start fights. The Hakken dance is mainly referred to as gabber (noun) or gabbering (verb), named after the Gabber subgenre of hardcore it is performed to. Despite the fact that it is called Gabber, it is usually performed to music of the hardstyle genre by most ravers in Australia. The influence of Gabber and Melbourne Bounce on Australian music is exemplified in the work of Eshay artists like Hooligan Hefs who incorporate these sounds into Australian drill.[14]

Lads have also been involved in the rock, heavy metal and hardcore scenes. Some Australian bands such as DMA's have been known to sport Eshay fashion.

Important to Eshay culture is a distinct dialect of urban slang that is employed by those in the subculture. Most commonly known as a bastardised form of pig-Latin, the dialect has led to the rise of popular words within Australian English such as Eshay/Eshays (Cool, Hell Yea, Run), Adlay (Lad), Eetswa (sweet, good), Redhot (suspicious, high-risk), Staunch (tough, to punk someone), Gronk (Idiot/Irritating person), Illchay (Chill, relax) and Earch (burglary/theft). This pig-Latin is employed as a means of evading scrutiny by authorities, namely police or prison guards, by conversing in a 'secret coded language', in some Inner-City Sydney Housing Commission Estates in Glebe, Waterloo/Redfern, Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills and Newtown (widely believed to be where the culture originated), a more complex/broader pig Latin, unbeknown to people outside the area, is often used widely by youths in the area, often combining two words to create a double-meaning.

The dialect has been heavily influenced by immigrant communities in Melbourne and Sydney, specifically the Wog accent, which is derived from a mix of Southern European Languages, Arabic, and Australian English.[15] Similarly, Polynesian, East African, and Indigenous communities have influenced the urban dialect with the introduction of traditional words.

In many lower-class communities of different ethnic backgrounds across Sydney, the “eshay” style and often pig Latin usage is often generational, exposed to it at an early age through older family members (parents, aunties/uncles, older siblings/cousins) and often influencing their fashion choices.

Efforts to reintroduce the Dharug language into Sydney used Eshay language and terminologies to better relate with Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth [16]