Misfits.

No not those useless super powered vagabonds on E4.
these horror punk kings forming in 1977 are one of the bands that I have enjoyed since a young age, sat in my bedroom giving myself a crash course in all things punk at the age of 11. So obviously the announcement of the Supreme Misfits drop hit me and put me in two minds.

Looking at the PCL (power, corruption, lies) release, there was a huge hype around the floral hoody which features the album artwork from New Orders 1983 album: Power, corruption and Lies. The problem was no one who bought the release really got the reference, bar a select few. Then came the re-sales all those skinny little white kids wondering why it "didn't suit" them. Perhaps they should have thought about it before buying what they saw as just another supreme floral.
I did commend Supreme in an earlier post for being an extremely diverse, yet thorough representation of counter culture but does this excuse it? I'm not sure that New Order really constitutes or embodies counter culture in the same way Futura 2000, Bad Brains or Public Enemy do. Even if the glove did fit it is abit like placing A Bathing Ape G-Shock on my Great Nans wrist. Perharps a more modern and fitting brand would have been a better call. But we'll never know, and with how nice the chukkas were its also not worth worrying about.

The misfits.
The questionablity of age is also present with The Misfits, being older than PCL. Comparatively speaking Supreme do seem like a more fitting collaborator given the history of the brand.
It goes without saying this release was far from groundbreaking. In fact given the amount of Misfits Merch floating around and the likeness to SSUR's Misfits inspired cap. This was also an extremely safe option given the impact of street goth slowly falling from high end fashion and slowly seeping dowards to more accessible items.

This posts back and forth approach means you probably don't need this conclusion. However both releases I am completely unsure about but leading strongly towards the Misfits release, for personal reasons alone. But with roughly £75 resale on the tee shirts its unlikely I'll be jumping at the chance to buy what is essentially high quality band merch.

Infamous Red Box part.2

The Infamous Red Box

Part.2

Supreme:
Supreme started in 1994 with it's feet firmly anchored in the downtown New York street culture. The brand slowly began to offer a hiqher quality of clothing than that of other skate brands of the time. Which as a result of it's own efforts slowly elevated itself above other brands, quickly building itself collaborations with big brands such as Vans and The North Face and in turn gaining a reputation,respect and success.

Elevation

According to the Supreme website "Supreme grew to be the embodiment of the downtown culture, Playing an integral part in its constant regeneration. Skaters, Punks, Hip-Hop Heads -the young counter-culture at large- all gravitated towards Supreme". Now let's look at that seperately is that them  justifying their place in streetwear market? or giving a good representation of their fan base? Well it does prove them as having the right stance and audience to be streetwear and if we look at their collaberations ALL of those sections have been accounted for:

• Skaters:- The multiple Vans and Nike SB collaberations have accounted for skaters.
• Punks:- If there is any band that could've both accounted for punk culture but also offer a healthy range of designs the bad brains collaberation in 2008 ticks that box too
• "Hip-Hop Heads":- 2006's Public Enemy collaberation not only proved that hip-hop culture was an influence for supreme but proved it knew what it was doing and prove themselves as one of the most critically acclaimed streetwear brands around
• "counter-culture at large":- the only real part of counter-culture that has not been acounted for is (arguably) the heaviest in influencing streetwear: Graffiti. The collaboration with Futura 2000 has this covered too.

So in my books supreme can be called a streetwear brand as much as any other. It's heart, roots, and friends are definately in the right places. So what's my issue?

Hype. Too much of it.

As i mentioned before in the Nike SB x Heritage article Supreme (similar to obey) is having its message slowly alienated by it's affiliation with big artists, in particuluar OddFuture. On the internet it is almost impossible to see a picture of Supreme without some pre-adolescent kid, who thinks that "swag" is style, commenting with the standard "OFWGKTA!!". This is my issue, such uneducated and one dimensional views on fashion are alienating brands by association outside of the brands control. BUT there is hope yet! "OF clothing". Yes. OddFuture have released their own brand. All I can hope is that this will take the focus off Supreme and give "the kids" something new to buy into. Which won't affect the perception of culture, because in all honesty, I don't want to be grouped with little brats who spent their parents money on box logo tees and 5panels because they think a guy who calls himself wolf is a god.