Stüssy ( ) is an American

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

fashion house founded in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. It benefited from the surfwear trend originating in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

, but was later adopted by the

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboar ...

and hip hop scenes.

History

Shawn Stussy (born 1954), was a Californian manufacturer of

surfboards A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa he'e ...

. The

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordm ...

defining the brand started in the early 1980s, when he scrawled his surname on handcrafted boards with a simple broad-tipped marker. He then used the logo on

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are genera ...

s, shorts and caps that he sold out of his car around Laguna Beach, California. The signature was derived from that of his uncle,

Jan Stussy Jan Stussy (1921–1990) was an American artist, film producer, and professor. He was a professor emeritus from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he taught there for 42 years. He was awarded an Academy Award for the documentary fi ...

. A stylized "S" popular in the 1990s, called the " Cool S", is often mistakenly attributed to the brand. In 1984, Stussy and his friend, Frank Sinatra Jr. (no relation to the singer), partnered to sell the apparel. The company expanded into Europe by 1988, opened a boutique in SoHo, New York, and unveiled multiple other locations throughout the 1990s. Revenues reached $17 million in 1991, and $20 million in 1992. Stüssy was sold throughout the United States at both specialty and department stores alongside other high-priced "California lifestyle" clothing during this era. Outside of the US, the brand was available in specialty shops alongside high-end international design clothing. In 1996, Stussy resigned as president and Sinatra bought his share of the company holdings, with the Sinatra family still owning the brand in 2017. According to the company's website, the apparel is available in branded stores and other retailers in Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Style

The early success of the brand has been attributed to its popularity in the hip hop and skateboarding/ surfer scenes. The brand was also embraced by the punk and other subcultures. In a 1992 interview Stussy said, "Everybody calls it surf wear, or urban streetwear, punk, or surf street... I don't name it, and I don't name it on purpose."

Collaborations

In 2011, Marvel paired up with Stüssy for an extensive line split between two "series". The first, released on 27 April, had nine T-shirt designs depicting several of the comics' most popular superheroes combined with Stüssy's graphic language. The second was made up of designs from nine guest artists who interpreted their favorite characters from the Marvel Universe. In 2019, Stüssy partnered up with fashion designer Matthew Williams to released two products: a garment dyed tee made of recycled organic cotton and a pair of co-branded leather hiking boots. The next year, Williams announced a new partnership with the brand for denim products and in late 2020, the brand partnered with CDG to create a capsule collection in commemoration of Stüssy's 40th anniversary.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stussy Clothing brands of the United States Surfwear brands 1990s fashion Street fashion Clothing companies based in Los Angeles