Hipsters are great. It is impossible to criticize this cultured and learned group of people who entertain with their style and wit. Better than that, though, is what they are doing for our struggling economy.
Hipsters may be the real lifesavers, after all, in this economic recession. They could be the ones to pull us out, all thanks to their love of Pabst, fixies and the many other things “normal” people aren’t allowed to wear or do. 
It’s a little known fact the Pabst ad campaign was in the toilet until 2002 when an “underground” ad campaign brought them back to the top of light-yellow, fizzy beers.
Before then, the only people repping PBR were hicks and Kid Rock. Not really leaders when it comes to trend-setting.
Pabst Blue Ribbon senior brand manager Bryan Clarke declined to comment extensively on the topic, but did say that, “Oregon truly put this brand back on the map, and we are very thankful. As far as we’re concerned, we go where our loyal drinkers take us. It’s not about us.”  
So why the sudden interest in a beer that at the time of its resurgence was going under? Not to mention in a state that prides itself on small-batch, craft brews. Slate writer Rob Walker says that because PBR had neglected its advertising campaign, the image associated with drinking it was non-existent.
“Long-neglected PBR had no image. It was just there,” Walker wrote.
It was an opportunity for an anti-marketing sub-culture to adopt the brand. Pabst was even surprised about this new phenomenon and sent reps to investigate the Portland scene.
What they found was a group of people (mostly associated with the bike messenger profession) looking not to abandon labels, brands or corporations, but to find the one that had been deserted by the rest of the American population.  
The same irrational logic goes for the fixed-gear bicycle craze. Riding a fixed-gear for someone who has never done it is a disaster. Trying to stop without the use of a hand brake is daunting at best. Yet all across campus one can observe the slim and colorful frames that half a year’s food ration went to pay for. According to fixie blogger James Martin, Japanese and English track cyclists originally used fixed-gear bicycles to create an even playing field for the competitors.  
“That way they know that competitors aren’t using different gear ratios. There’s no cassettes, shifters, gears or breaks, it’s just ‘mano-y-mano’ to see who’s the fastest,” Martin said.  
However, in the urban environment, fixed gear riding is pretty impractical and hazardous to pedestrians. Even for experienced fixed gear riders, using their legs as brakes is not at all as fast or efficient as a hand brake. The risk is so intense that fixed-gears are outlawed in many places.
In many hipster circles, the brakeless form is looked to as part of a purported “flow,” through which one can maintain better control of the bicycle and the width exclusion of the usual components, to achieve a more artful, minimalist look. 
Through the perpetual cycle of non-conformity that hipsters typify, certain brands are bound to rise in popularity to the point obtaining mainstream status. Discovering new brands and impractical ways to transport oneself can only go so far, and considering that hipsters naturally disdain conformity, it is unknown how long such a movement can survive.
The irony of wanting a label that is unwanted parallels the ironic conception of conforming
to non-conformity, which eventually leads to mass conformity. But to contest that hipsters haven’t done anything for the world is to be greatly misled. They’ve revived multiple brands and concepts, bringing them back to popularity, despite how irrational investing in these brands or concepts may be.
In short, it must be acquiesced that hipsters have created jobs and, little by little, are doing what they must truly hate: reviving the capitalist economy. 
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