Unsurprisingly, Luigi Mangione Merch Is Surging
StyleThe arrest of a suspect accused of killing health-insurance CEO Brian Thompson had an unexpected consequence: a morbid cottage industry of T-shirts, hats, and wine tumblers venerating the internet’s new folk hero.By Eileen CartterDecember 10, 2024Photos: Courtesy of NBC News, Amazon, Macy's, Etsy; Collage: Gabe ConteSave this storySaveSave this storySaveOn December 5, the New York City Police Department released two surveillance photos of a person of interest in their investigation into the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan last week. They were the clearest images yet of the alleged gunman, who wore a drawstring-hooded green jacket and a black face mask, prior to police apprehending 26-year-old Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday and subsequently arresting him on firearms charges.Spurned by an outsized interest around the crime framing its perpetrator as a “folk hero,” Reddit sleuths went into fashion-identification mode, deducing that the jacket’s chest flap pockets and trucker silhouette could belong to one particular hooded jacket by Levi’s, which was then for sale on Macy’s website.According to a TMZ report, the $225 olive-green jacket began “morbidly flying off the shelves,” selling over 700 units in 48 hours per “an item popularity tool” on Macy’s site; as of Tuesday, the retailer page lists the jacket as currently unavailable. Online and in real life, users spoofed the idea of dressing like the alleged suspect. There was an “assassin lookalike competition” held in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, the same location as a recent Timothée Chalamet lookalike gathering that inspired a number of similar events. In a viral TikTok skit, a mom implores her young son—who is a popular comedian on the platform—to go back inside and change his outfit because he resembled the suspect: “Nuh-uh, no green jacket, no hood! This is serious now!”And as each new detail emerges about the case, so too does a new crop of related merchandise on e-retail marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and TikTok Shop.When the authorities shared that ammunition casings found near where Thompson was shot had been inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”—a likely reference to the oft-cited phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which describes the practices insurance companies have used to reject or defer claims. The Washington Post reported that an array of manufacturer-made items printed with the phrase—including T-shirts, hats, holiday sweaters, and “wine tumblers”—had appeared on Amazon, and that the retailer removed the items after being contacted by the newspaper. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also owns the Post.)With sellers cashing in on the moment, even more user-generated merch cropped up in the wake of Luigi Mangione’s arrest—this time printed with his mugshot or photos found on his social media. Amazon, for one, seems to be moving quickly to remove any items related to Mangione or the killing; per Fast Company, a spokesperson for the retailer said the content violated the site’s guidelines.Will the other most famous Luigi—the beloved Nintendo character—also see a merch boom from all of this? A viral tweet purporting a spike in sales of kelly-green “Luigi” beanies suggests that’s possible. That claim seems to have been debunked, but the nearly 200,000 people who liked that tweet could very well turn fiction into reality.In his recent essay on contemporary merch culture, my colleague Samuel Hine wrote, “[At] a time when sincerity felt grossly trite, the best merch fed into our irony-pilled personas.” This week, the pitch-black sartorial comedy rolls on. On TikTok, a fake screenshot of the streetwear reselling platform Grailed shows a doctored profile in Mangione’s name, which lists two Raf Simons garments for sale. The top comment reads, “This guy just gets cooler.”
On December 5, the New York City Police Department released two surveillance photos of a person of interest in their investigation into the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan last week. They were the clearest images yet of the alleged gunman, who wore a drawstring-hooded green jacket and a black face mask, prior to police apprehending 26-year-old Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday and subsequently arresting him on firearms charges.
Spurned by an outsized interest around the crime framing its perpetrator as a “folk hero,” Reddit sleuths went into fashion-identification mode, deducing that the jacket’s chest flap pockets and trucker silhouette could belong to one particular hooded jacket by Levi’s, which was then for sale on Macy’s website.
According to a TMZ report, the $225 olive-green jacket began “morbidly flying off the shelves,” selling over 700 units in 48 hours per “an item popularity tool” on Macy’s site; as of Tuesday, the retailer page lists the jacket as currently unavailable. Online and in real life, users spoofed the idea of dressing like the alleged suspect. There was an “assassin lookalike competition” held in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, the same location as a recent Timothée Chalamet lookalike gathering that inspired a number of similar events. In a viral TikTok skit, a mom implores her young son—who is a popular comedian on the platform—to go back inside and change his outfit because he resembled the suspect: “Nuh-uh, no green jacket, no hood! This is serious now!”
And as each new detail emerges about the case, so too does a new crop of related merchandise on e-retail marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and TikTok Shop.
When the authorities shared that ammunition casings found near where Thompson was shot had been inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”—a likely reference to the oft-cited phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which describes the practices insurance companies have used to reject or defer claims. The Washington Post reported that an array of manufacturer-made items printed with the phrase—including T-shirts, hats, holiday sweaters, and “wine tumblers”—had appeared on Amazon, and that the retailer removed the items after being contacted by the newspaper. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also owns the Post.)
With sellers cashing in on the moment, even more user-generated merch cropped up in the wake of Luigi Mangione’s arrest—this time printed with his mugshot or photos found on his social media. Amazon, for one, seems to be moving quickly to remove any items related to Mangione or the killing; per Fast Company, a spokesperson for the retailer said the content violated the site’s guidelines.
Will the other most famous Luigi—the beloved Nintendo character—also see a merch boom from all of this? A viral tweet purporting a spike in sales of kelly-green “Luigi” beanies suggests that’s possible. That claim seems to have been debunked, but the nearly 200,000 people who liked that tweet could very well turn fiction into reality.
In his recent essay on contemporary merch culture, my colleague Samuel Hine wrote, “[At] a time when sincerity felt grossly trite, the best merch fed into our irony-pilled personas.” This week, the pitch-black sartorial comedy rolls on. On TikTok, a fake screenshot of the streetwear reselling platform Grailed shows a doctored profile in Mangione’s name, which lists two Raf Simons garments for sale. The top comment reads, “This guy just gets cooler.”
