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.

Infamous Red Box Part.1

The Infamous Red Box 
Part.1

 

An explanation, an insight, and possibly enlightenment. This is going to be based on the two main Red Box Logo brands that are currently having a massive boost in exposure: Obey and Supreme. This article is not going to question whether or not either of these brands are in fact streetwear or not simply give a brief overview as to why they are in there respective reviews.

OBEY:

Production of obey clothing is possibly the most simplistic and true streetwear brand around. Although not highly influenced by fashion like other brands, Obey Clothing is based solely on the graffiti and street art of it's owner Shepard Fairey and for this reason has the full message, origin and influences of streetwear that many brands lack.

____________________________________________________________________________________

MANIFESTO 

"the OBEY campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomology. The first aim of Phenomology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one's environment. The OBEY campaign attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with OBEY PROPAGANDA provoke thought and possibly frustration, never the less revitalising the viewer's perception and attention to detail. To catalyse a thoughtful dialogue deconstructing the process of image absorption is the ultimate goal. All in the name and fun and observation. The medium is the message."
____________________________________________________________________________________

A tag with this with this written on is included with most real pieces of obey clothing, excluding "OBEY POSSE", which has a separate message and purpose. Now what is the irony that many people will buy fake Obey tee-shirt, or simply those that do not attempt to be fakes but simply have the word "OBEY" printed on them? To put it bluntly: EXTREMELY. Especially since Obey is possibly the easiest streetwear brand to get, as it has: its own web store; high street stockists: such as Urban outfitters and some of the larger Topshop/man stores; as well as many dedicated eBay stockists that get samples from Fairey himself. But people will continue to buy into the look of music artists and those in the media and not the message by going out of their way to find fakes simply to pay less. Which is strength only strengthens the message and "phenomology" which is mentioned in the MANIFESTO. But the question I pose to you is:

Does it really strengthen the message or slowly begin to bastardise it?

Nike SB Eric Koston X Heritage

Nike SB Eric Koston X Heritage

In may whilst discussing Air Max over a cup of tea, seriously that shit happened, me and a few mates were more than curious at the new look of the Nike SBs. But are they just an attempt at cashing in at the spike in popularity of air max 90s?

This story begins in late 2007 when The Berrics was established. With Steve Berra and Eric Koston working together and making skateboarding move away from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater confines of the 2000's. The websites popularity grew amazingly other the following years where it has become THE go to for all skateboarders.

Now if your reading this you're probably aware that Nike Air Max are pretty much the shoes of choice for Streetwear collectors and fiends alike, for example any Supreme London drop turns Peter Street into Air Max central. So it's not unusual that the new Nike SB model has been modelled on Air Max given that Koston isn't unfamiliar with streetwearhimself. He can be seen wearing a Red Box Logo 5 panel in most berrics' videos(whether supreme is street or skatewear is for another article) or wearing some nice obscure tees.

Nike may be risking putting all their eggs into one basket here. But i think these will prove popular with those who do skate as it will allow them to get thier Air Max fix without risking the Air Unit popping.

-Josh

Image: Google Images