What does ESHAY stand for? 

Eshay

Eshay or Lad is an Australian criminal youth subculture. It originated from Inner-Sydney's graffiti scene in the 1980s, with an established familiar uniform of Ralph Lauren and Nike Air Max, but began to be influenced by working class culture in Sydney's numerous Housing Commission Estates throughout the 1990s, with older criminals wearing Nike TNs and other designer brands setting standards, encouraging younger disenfranchised youth to begin making money illegally. The subculture was heavily prominent in the underground scene in the 2000s, with the style of Nike TNs, Nautica clothing and Bumbags widespread across Sydney regardless of heavy stigma from the general public looking down on people in the clothing style, contributing to the style and subculture becoming widespread and appropriated across the country, eventually influencing fashion, language and music.The subculture traces its roots to predominantly young men from low socio-economic backgrounds, initially drawing inspiration from Southern Beats, British Casual/Chav clothing, and Dutch Gabber dancing/style, eventually creating a distinctly Australian style/culture with similarities, but completely different. Eventually in 2019, UK Drill culture heavily influenced the direction of the subculture, as Mount Druitt rap group Onefour’s drill tracks became viral, drawing similarities between the two. Key distinct lad activities include widespread criminal activity, such as Shoplifting, Vandalism, Assault, Robbery, and often Burglary and Drug dealing. Usually a lot of young people in Lad clothing are only low-level criminals, and are sometimes not even violent nowadays, but originally and often still the case, youths in the familiar clothing are capable of serious offences and violent crimes. The lad style is huge among the Australian penal system, with inmates wearing Nike Air Max Plus or similar trainers in quite a lot of cases.

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