The US tech company Palantir is causing a stir with an unusual merchandise product. The company, best known for surveillance technologies, data analysis and military software, launched a so-called “chore jacket” – inspired by 19th century French worker jackets.
The jacket cost 239 US dollars, or around 185 francs. It sold out after just five hours.
The fact that Palantir, of all companies, is launching a worker’s jacket seems contradictory to many. The “chore jacket” historically represents physical work: mechanics and factory employees wore such jackets in 19th century France as robust work clothing. Critics now see Palantir’s merchandise product as an attempt by a billion-dollar technology company to adorn itself with the aesthetics of the working class, even though Palantir is hardly associated with the realities of life of classic workers.