The clothing brand “PARKE,” founded by influencer Chelsea Parke, has recently sparked interest online with their well-known “Varsity Mocknecks.” The company was founded by Chelsea Parke in 2022, thrifting and upcycling vintage denim to make different kinds of clothing. In 2023, they expanded from denim pieces to loungewear styles. The website sells denim, loungewear, and the company recently launched “PARKE Sport” a sports line version of their products, that came on on March 10. The company has also collaborated with Stoney Clover Lane, Set Active and most recently Brunch x PARKE, featuring a collab varsity mockneck, sweatpants, boxer shorts and slippers.
Initial thoughts
Mockneck sweatshirts are the new fashion trend on social media right now, but the most popular one on the market right now is a plain sweatshirt that has the word “PARKE” stitched across the front. The mockneck retails for $130, which to me is a ridiculous amount for a sweatshirt. From what I’ve seen online, it’s known for being a nice thick sweatshirt that’s really soft. The mockneck is an 80% cotton/20% polyester blend, which isn’t terrible, but since it is majority cotton, it’s prone to shrink, ruining the “oversized, relaxed fit” that the product is so famous for.
Sweatshirts I buy usually range from $30-$45, which I think is pretty reasonable, with the prices of clothes these days. The clothing company, Free People Movement, made a mock neck very similar to PARKE that just has the words “FP Movement” on it, and it retailed at $130. Again, I think this is a ridiculous price, because I ordered a mock neck from Target for $30 and it’s literally the same thing with super nice quality. Which just shows that people don’t really care about the quality as much as having the logo printed on it. But I’d rather save my money on something that has the same quality but much more affordable.
I’ve also seen creators on TikTok receiving their mockneck’s with stains or their package being sent to the wrong address. To me, I just see this as a management issue. The company is doing a final sale for mocknecks at the moment, meaning no returns or exchanges on items. It’s unfair, because we have a window of seconds to purchase these sweatshirts when they drop, and if they don’t fit right, we basically just wasted our money. There’s always resellers and if you search, “Parke Varsity Mockneck” online you will find lots of results, just three times the original price.
The war of checking out
The company does a new restock of an item on the first of every month. No one knows what it’s going to be. Sometimes it could be multiple items in multiple colors or just one item in one color. Either way, buyers sell out the items within minutes of them going live on the site.
According to The Cut, “In February, Parke’s Valentine’s Day–themed collection sold out in less than five minutes after it went live on the brand’s website.”
The day of the “FOTM” drop I made sure to get on the website five minutes before with my card in hand. The March drop was only a one-color restock, which was the color “Sprinkle,” and it was a really pretty shade of baby pink. It almost felt like a Ticketmaster war because of the way there was a whole countdown and I had to be quick to get it in my cart to checkout. I clicked “checkout” on my items immediately after the items went on sale, but then I was put into a queue, and I had to wait to check out. I was so mad because what do you mean I had to wait three extra minutes to check out even though I was there as soon as it dropped? The time kept changing as well. I got down to one minute, and then it jumped right back to three minutes. I finally got to the end, and the sweatshirt was sold out, and it kicked me out of the website. I was so upset. When I reloaded the website, every size of the sweatshirt was sold out. I decided to search it up on other websites where people resell clothes, like Curtsy, Depop, Ebay etc. I found a Parke sweatshirt on eBay for $175, knowing that it’s very popular right now and sold out all over the site. It made sense that it was a little higher than the asking price. I got a grey sweatshirt with navy blue lettering. This was a sweatshirt included in their January “FOTM” drop that had multiple colors that were more basic, like grey, white, pink and black.
Thoughts after buying the mockneck
When I received the mockneck I wasn’t all that impressed. The quality was worse than my sweatshirts from Pacsun that I got for $30. The mockneck on it wasn’t very high either, it almost felt like a regular crew neck because the neck was so low. But, the stitching of the word ‘PARKE” was very well detailed, so I will give the company that. I ordered a small/medium size which was a great fit if you don’t enjoy the “oversized” look. But I just don’t see why it has to be $130? I was expecting a really fuzzy inside and thick cotton, the sweatshirt had neither of these things. The company and people on social media have definitely over-hyped this product. PARKE also has denim pieces, t-shirts, boxer shorts and lounge pants that look really nice. I haven’t seen many reviews on these products because the mockneck has taken over, but I wouldn’t be opposed to trying them out.
