Here’s Why Brands Are Going Gender Neutral in the Kitchen

It's a ThingHere’s Why Brands Are Going Gender Neutral in the KitchenKitchenware explores new bounds in design and fashion in an effort to appeal to a masculine audience

By Jack Riewe

January 3, 2022

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email

An assortment of kitchenware pieces from the Rhude and Instant Pot campaign.Photo: Gabriel Villasenor

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email

A man would decide to add kitchenware to the hype-fueled, drop-economy of streetwear. We live in the golden age of collaborations, and brands are melding products to bring together fans across various mediums—specifically, giving common kitchen goods a fresh design twist in an effort to appeal to menswear enthusiasts.

High-end home goods that combine novelty and ephemerality by bringing the runway to your kitchen counter have been recurrent for luxury fashion houses in recent years. A few of our favorite decor collabs include the Hermès table collection, the Smeg and Dolce & Gabbana collaboration, and many collections from the late Virgil Abloh’s Off White. But there’s not only high-fashion labels in the mix: Brands like Supreme have also dropped various homeware products, like one with Pyrex. Although these lines and collaborations aren’t overtly masculine, they do follow suit with recent trends of being gender neutral and appealing to a wider range of audiences—drastically different from traditional kitchenware marketing strategies of the 20th century.

If you examine the evolution of a kitchen appliance like the Crock-Pot, you can match it to historical cooking demographics. When the Crock-Pot came onto the market in 1971, about 30 percent of men were cooking compared to more than 40 percent in the late 2000s. On the other hand, the amount of women cooking has dropped from 92 percent to less than 70 percent in that same time period. With more men in the at-home kitchen, brands like Crock-Pot had to rethink the design of their famed slow cooker. In the ’70s, with the majority of its consumer base being women, the appliance sported floral prints and pastels. Today, it remains neutral with chrome or matte black finishes.

“Kitchen brands from the ’20s to the ’50—when there was more development of this role of a woman in a modern household—were traditionally geared toward women, and I think that’s been pretty consistent,” explains Tara Thomas, a New York chef who partners with brands like Madewell and Kana. As a Black woman, Tara is reached out to by many different kitchen and fashion brands, and she feels her audience is diverse in gender and race. “I feel like the lines are starting to blur for what’s for who in the kitchen,” she says. “This recent push for quote-unquote making more products for men is a way to [bridge the gender] gap.”

As a fan of the recent Rhude and Instant Pot collaboration, Tara thinks that “these kinds of male-geared items are making more space for anyone to cook and feel more comfortable in the kitchen.” Another theory she proposes about why less feminine kitchen appliances have become popular in recent years is that with Gen Z coming of age, single males want to start cooking and become a homemaker for themselves. According to Acosta, 55 percent of people ate at home more often during the pandemic, and a SmartBrief survey revealed that 43 percent of Gen Z respondents said they intend to cook at home more after the pandemic is over.

A table spread of Instant Pot and Pyrex items from the Rhude collaboration.

Photo: Gabriel Villasenor

The Rhude collaboration—rooted in high-fashion, internet hype culture, and kitchen appliances that make cooking at home incredibly easy—simmers at the center of this theory. Rhude founder and creative director Rhuigi Villasenor aimed to create a wide range of products that appealed to everyone regardless of gender. “I think that kitchen brands have always had a strong appeal for men, but we’ve just now taken note as we’ve been spending more time at home, taking the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the small, everyday moments that were previously overlooked by so many,” he says.

Woldy Reyes is also no stranger to brand partnerships and fashion in the kitchen. In many of his Instagram posts, the chef shares a recipe, gets a fit off, or both. He argues that whatever stigma about men not being in the kitchen is long gone by now. “I think people got comfortable being in the kitchen over the last year and over time built up the confidence to experiment with different kitchen wares,” Woldy says. “At this point where we are currently, brands should start thinking broadly, meaning they shouldn’t approach their products in a binary mindset but more of non-binary approach where it appeals to everyone regardless of their sex.”

Another frequent streetwear collaborator, Tekla, began steering its linens toward the kitchen as the pandemic changed the way we look at group meals. “We have had the idea for some time, and during the lockdown we changed our perspective on the kitchen, setting a table, and the importance of getting together,” explains Kristoffer Juhl, managing director at Tekla. “Laying down the tablecloth, the napkins… These gestures are all part of the coming together, an act now more famous than ever.”

Last summer, Tekla teamed up with the streetwear brand Stussy on a collection of sleepwear and bedding. “A great collaboration is often the one that leaves you with a feeling of surprise in the two brands coming together, which is then followed by an aha! moment, because it makes total sense that they did,” Kristoffer says. “That’s how we feel about our partnership with Stussy—it was perhaps a surprise to some, but for most, it hopefully felt very natural, bringing the best of both worlds together.”

Ghetto Gastro, a New York-based culinary collective, is very familiar with the art of a hype-based product launch. Since 2012, the collective has partnered with the likes of Marvel Studios, Williams Sonoma, and Crux on designs for toasters, air fryers, indoor grills, and other appliances. Many of these product designs are simple with black-and-white features accented by a powerful shade of red.

“There’s definitely been a problematic patriarchal narrative of a woman’s place being in the kitchen, but I’d like to think that is ancient history,” says Ghetto Gastro cofounder Jon Gray. He argues that brands use psychographic segmentation to appeal to different types of people when it comes to kitchen products, but the collective tries to “design for our tastes with the hope that other people are looking for what we think has been missing in the game.” As Jon concludes, “We don’t consider gender binaries when we create. We just strive to make a product that we think is dope, and we hope our community feels the same way.”

ExploreClever