The world of fashion is pretty crazy at the best of times, but a recent promotional event in China has taken this to the next level. Korean giant Samsung announced via a live stream that it was collaborating with popular fashion brand Supreme the other day, a move which, in the eyes of fashion-conscious buyers, would be quite a boon for the firm. After all, young consumers love to spend money on tech and clothing, so it's the perfect match, right?
The only problem is, the Supreme that Samsung has buddied up with isn't the real Supreme, but an exploitative – yet perfectly legal – fake.
It sounds daft, but it's true; the Supreme that Samsung is partnering with isn't the 'real' Supreme from New York – the original, authentic brand – although you wouldn't know this from looking at the familiar logo and the way the company presents itself. This fake version of Supreme is based in Barletta, Italy, and recently beat Supreme NYC in a court case regarding who can legally use the brand name on Italian soil.
It's an odd situation, but companies can legally clone the branding and logos of a rival firm and register their own trademarks in another country, which means that companies like Supreme Italia actually benefit from legal protection in Italy. Supreme Spain has also been established on the same grounds.
So what does this have to do with Samsung? Well, 'Fake Supreme' is now planning on expanding into the lucrative Chinese market with a flagship store, and is looking for a wide range of retail partners to help with this goal – one of which is, of course, Samsung.
During the announcement live stream, the two CEOs of Fake Supreme even got up on stage, while Feng En, marketing head for Samsung China, waxed lyrical about the exciting nature of the collaboration and the 'coolness' of the Supreme brand (he is, of course, talking about the 'real' Supreme).
Once the stream had finished, Samsung China’s digital marketing manager Leo Lau was forced to clarify exactly which Supreme the company was actually partnering with – perhaps the first admission by the Korean brand that all was not what it seemed. “We are collaborating with Supreme Italia, not Supreme NYC,” Lau said. “Supreme NYC has no sales and marketing authorization in China, but Supreme Italia has obtained product sales and market authorizations in the Asia Pacific region (except Japan).”
We're sure you won't read about a more confusing legal situation for the rest of today, and to be honest, by jumping into bed with such a blatantly counterfeit company, Samsung is making itself look pretty shifty. Given that Supreme NYC has stated that "These claims are blatantly false and propagated by a counterfeit organization,” we can't imagine that we'll be seeing any 'Samsung x Supreme' cross-overs in the west.
by dmcferran via Featured Articles
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