Have you ever seen the following logo?
The logo pictured above belongs to a fashion house by the name of Stüssy. The brand is known around the world, and the story of its origin just might knock your socks off and then put them back on for you because it's getting cold out.
1979 was the year. The year in which what happened? The year in which Shawn Stussy opened his surf shop. He wasn't a complete stranger to the scene at this point, as he was shaping at Russell Surfboards. Shouts out Newport Beach. Regarding Stussy's surfboards, they featured that logo that you know and love on them.
At an event, Stussy was selling his boards. This is where his venture would take a twist in plot. The logo shirt that he was wearing was getting attention. Although Stussy wasn't even selling shirts at first, a demand for them grew. Stussy sold 1000 shirts at the end of three days. Six months later, he was a vendor at a different event. This time, he went in with shirts for sale.
Sometime during this event, Stussy's shorts were gassed. People liked the shorts he was wearing. First they rock with his shirt, and then they rock with his shorts. He was dressing. I'm not mad at it.
In 1984, former CPA Frank Sinatra Jr. teamed up with Stussy. For clarification, Sinatra Jr. is not related to the famous singer Frank Sinatra. It's two families.
Sinatra Jr. invested five racks in order to get the ball rolling. In an interview with Complex, he mentioned that there was no venture capital and no outside funding. The money belonged to him. Now keep in mind though, it wasn't too much money that he had at the time. He had something to lose.
“We all wanted it to be our thing, we didn't want our brand strategy dictated by investors' demands, so we just did what we had to do — including working two jobs, until it got to the point where it could support us.” —Frank Sinatra Jr.
What do Shawn Stussy and Steph Curry have in common? They both changed their respective industries. Click that hyperlink regarding Curry, but Stussy's impact I want to discuss. Prior to him, you didn't see all these brands with their logo hats. Although baseball teams did it, the method wasn't popular in fashion design. Shawn Stussy made that wave.
The first Stüssy World Tour t-shirt dropped in 1989. It incorporated New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, and Paris spelled out into the design. Was this to bring attention to the fact that there are Stüssy stores in the aforementioned places? Nope. Shawn Stussy just rocked with and had friends in those parts of the world. With regard to those friends, they went on to form the International Stüssy Tribe. The group consisted of those in direct business roles of Stüssy, and those with more informal Stüssy associations. James of Speeed has described them as "streetwear's super-spreaders." They influenced purchasing behavior to an extent that I can't measure myself. But it was a measurement though. For my marketing students, they positioned Stüssy.
Also having taken place in '89 was the opening of a boutique named Union. The NYC based store was owned by perhaps one of the most popular Stüssy Tribe members of all time: James Jebbia. I have some backstory for you: Jebbia (who at the time wasn't as tight with Shawn Stussy as he would become) had an aspiration to stock Stüssy in Union. Although initially being met with rejection, he eventually became more acquainted with Stussy, and made his aspiration happen.
Jebbia also received the managerial clipboard of the then-new NY Stüssy store. There's actually word that it was Jebbia's idea to open that store. In 1994, he started a brand of his own. The name of this brand? Supreme.
In 1996, Shawn Stussy would leave Stüssy. The reason why? I don't know. Reports contradict one another regarding how he felt leading to that decision. I do know however that almost 30 years later, Stüssy is still goin. Jeans, beanies, t-shirts, scarves, and it don't end there. Buy me a little something or else I'll get mad. Timberland, Nike, and even Beats by Dre are on the recent Stüssy collabs list. Speaking of collabs, Stüssy collabs with creatives that aren't famous. Their route is working with creatives that aren't on. And I imagine this gives those creatives leverage. Greatness can come from that, like we saw in the great moments of Mr. Stussy.
Upon finishing this read, go create something cool. You thought you was safe from homework? I'm giving you homework today. No Canvas. And take care of yourself.
Written by Giuseppe Amato, @giuseppevalentinoamato on Instagram
Follow Poppins Productions LLC
On Instagram
On Twitter
On Facebook
And Learn More On Our Site
Big thank you to the YouTube channel Speeed for their Stüssy video which helped immensely in the writing of this blog. Another big thanks to Stüssy's website, for providing info that was included in this blog.
Comments