Supreme NYC (China) Information

Supreme NYC is a street wear clothing Brand that replicate the original Supreme store which established in Shenzhen, China in July 2018. ^[1]The design and the decor of the store replicate the original store's features, with the same store signage, hangers, music selection, shopping bags and, above all, goods. ^[1]The only giveaway is the small logo affixed to the end of the Supreme mark, which may look like a registered trademark logo to the untrained eye, but upon closer inspection is a custom mark that reads “NYC,” further differentiating the counterfeit brand from the bona fide logo. ^{[2] [3]}

Background

There are 11 Supreme stores in the world: two in New York, one in Los Angeles, one in London, one in Paris, and six around Japan. There are none in China. ^{[2] [4]}

China’s legal stance on trademarks

The opening of the store and its business is totally allowed by Chinese regulations. Unlike in the U.S. or other countries where trademark rights are gained by actually using a trademark, in China, there is no such "use" rule. So basically a party can claim trademark rights as long as they are the first to register the name or the logo at the national trademark office. ^[1]

As lawyer Julie Zerbo of The Fashion Law said that  “In addition to the Chinese government’s relatively lax stance on instances of infringement of non-native [foreign] brands’ intellectual property rights by native [Chinese] entities, the way that trademark law operates in China allows for instances like [the fake Supreme store],” Zerbo explains. “Unlike in the United States and most other countries, where trademark rights are gained by actual use of a trademark, in China an individual gains rights merely by being the first to file a trademark application.” ^[2]

Store layout

Supreme NYC store replicate the original store's design. From the outside of Supreme NYC store we can see that the iconic Red "supreme" Logo is hanging on a White Signboard, it look the same as other Supreme store in the rest of the world.The only different between Supreme and Supreme NYC is the store entrance. Supreme Store is designed with a large cement walls, but Supreme NYC store did not. ^[3]It’s easy to mistake it for the real deal.

Logo

The Supreme NYC logo look exactly the same as Supreme, a white Supreme word printed on a red box. The only different is on the right top corner, On the top right corner of Supreme logo there is nothing. However, on the top right corner of Supreme NYC it has a small logo which may look like a registered trademark logo "®" to the untrained eye, but upon closer inspection is a custom mark that reads “NYC” ^[1]. It is a logo of a football club in NewYork, New York City FC.This mark extends to everything from the store signage to even the hangers.

Product

Unlike real Supreme stores, Supreme NYC store currently sells only hoodies in different colour blocks: on the box logo, a custom mark "NYC" is embroidered to differentiate the counterfeit item from the original one. For example,  the wares come in an oatmeal gray, several colorblocked versions. Supreme’s “motion logo” hoodie is also aped in black and white versions. ^[2]

Moreover, there are more differences in how Supreme NYC brands its goods. Unlike Supreme’s 100% cotton fleece hoodies manufactured in Canada, Supreme NYC makes its hoodies from a cotton and polyester blend, and denotes the clothing as manufactured in China, as reported on the tag. ^[2]

Collaborations

OXN

Supreme NYC has co-branded with a Chinese original brand called OXN and the conference was held in 12th June at Nile Villa International Hotel in Dongguan, China. The organizer OXN also claimed to have invited Supreme's owner. The black man presenting himself as the owner of the Supreme brand has allegedly signed off on million’s worth of collaborations with OXN at the conference. However, the owner of Supreme, James Jebbia, was born in the United Kingdom whose father is an American and mother is an British. And he is a  white man, whose totally different from the ‘fake’ Supreme owner in the conference. ^[5]

Other fake Supreme store in the World

Supreme Italian /Supreme Spain

Supreme Italia is also known as Supreme Barletta because Camora's factory is located in Barletta. The Italian firm uses an almost identical logo to the American brand that is protected by local laws, reportedly allowing it to see “legally fake” goods. Comparing with Supreme NYC, the quality of Supreme Italia's clothes is quite good. Moreover, due to its affordable price, it becomes more popular. Then, Supreme Italia, started to rush out of Italy and go to the world. At the beginning of 2011, NBA star Dwyane Wade, who appeared on the streets of Milan, was recognised as wearing a huge box logo on his body, which turned out to be Supreme Italia. ^{[6] [7]}

Collaborated with Samsung

An announcement made at the launch ceremony of Samsung’s A8s phone in the Chinese market has drawn scorn from the New York-based fashion brand for signalling its partnership with Supreme Italia. However, after the conference, some netizens find that the Supreme that Samsung cooperated with is not the one in New York, but Supreme ltalia. Since Supreme ltalia is fake, Samsung finally cancel the cooperation with them. Actually, Supreme USA stands up and responded after the collaboration -- They did not reach a cooperation with Samsung, nor would they open a store in China. ^[8]

References