Since their birth in the 80s, Stüssy has continued to evolve and extend the influence of streetwear throughout the world. Between surfing, skateboarding, hip-hop and punk culture to name but a few examples, streetwear as Stussy has always been able to absorb codes to reflect what is best done. We will note especially the culture of the 80s, indeed, most of the creators grew up with their feet in it. Prepare your hot chocolate, and get ready to discover what influenced the mythical American brand, and what influenced it itself.
The 80s, the first stages of streetwear
We are in 1984 at Laguna Beach, California, United States. A man named Shawn Stüssy, surfing in his spare time, launches his own surf brand. He makes them in his apartment, and makes, in parallel, t-shirts on which he puts his signature. He did the same for the boards he designed. At that time, streetwear was in the very beginning, especially with the large number of Hip-Hop artists who began to dress like that.
We were seeing the first signs of the banalization of the wearing of hoodies, influenced by the street, which nevertheless remained a fairly controversial piece for about ten years.
A growing movement
Now let’s make a decade voucher to get us to the 1990s. We note the appearance of the International Stüssy Tribe. This movement, initiated by Shawn Stüssy, brings together a large community of artists such as MCs, DJs…
This group was originally a small group of friends, it has since expanded. He wasn’t looking for big names, they were looking for names with potential that could be influential. Stüssy’s influence was envisaged in the future, the members developed a crew that 30 years later dominates street fashion.
In this decade, rap and RnB are booming, the younger generations are very much influenced by this culture. All the personalities who began to appear during this period brought a new way of conceiving fashion, combining street and luxury.
The beginnings were complicated, fashion didn’t want streetwear. Creators who grew up in the 1980s were very affected by this culture, so we can see the emergence of the first streetwears-oriented brands such as Supreme for example.
An influence on the whole street
Proud of their success, Stüssy’s influences extend to rock, street art, punk, rap, skateboarding, to summarize all the cultures that had an influence on teenagers at the time. The American label will collaborate with Nike in 2000, the result of this work simply reigned over a decade. Stüssy has rethought 2 different colours for the pair of Air Huarache running shoes, sold exclusively in the Stüssy shop in London.
But the American brand will not stop there, it will also rethink in 2005 the color of the mythical Nike Dunk Low, which is sold at exorbitant prices today. To resume, in only 5 years, Stüssy has created, in collaboration with Nike, two pairs of shoes that are still ultra-popular today, both in running and skating.
The brand will in 2001, for its 30th anniversary, also do a work in collaboration with Supreme, an old logo “Skate Tough” will be released for the occasion, the t-shirts were distributed in very limited quantities only in Stüssy Chapter shops.
The impact of the American label on street culture is undeniable at this time, everyone is talking about Stüssy and wants to wear Stüssy.
Stüssy still in the spirit of the times
In recent years, we have seen more and more collaborations between brands, often to produce parts in limited quantities. People are fond of rare things, and streetwears brands have understood it well, a release with limited stocks works precisely because there are not many products on sale.
It is also in 2010 that Stüssy will hit another big hit in the world of streetwear. The label will collaborate with the Japanese brand A Bathing Ape to provide us with a stock of parts inspired by the army’s camouflage motifs, which were very popular in the 90s. The program includes jackets, hoodies, t-shirts, pants, accessories…
Today, streetwear is a style that affects all categories of people, it has become much less common to go to work in a suit and tie. We prefer to take clothes in which we are comfortable, we let ourselves go to originality and comfort prevail.
What we will remember about the label Stüssy, is its ability to always follow the trend, but with a touch of originality that will make each piece unique and transpire this street culture.
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