Shawn Stussy, founder of Stüssy, says the practice of brands re-releasing designs is “always lame.”
The declaration from the man behind one of the most sustaining presences in fashion, who exited his role as president of Stüssy back in 1996, arrived in the form of an Instagram comment this week. As Shawn explained it, designs are “meant for the moment,” which adds to the specialness of coming across vintage pieces.
Going the re-release route, he added, amounts to a "money grab" from any given brand taking this approach.
"[T]herein lies the problem, the always lame 'rerelease'... my designs were meant for the moment of which they were created... and to have a vintage piece that still speaks to you is what it is all about... not making more new ones for the money grab," Stussy wrote, as seen below. "[G]o out and find the vintage one that tugs at your heart and shows you have more invested in the game than the reissue from the sales rack... Thibo and a group of guys around the world get this and I am very proud that they do... just sayin'."
The comment was made in response to someone noting they had found a sought-after hat thanks to a recent re-release of the design in question, something Stussy is clearly against. See it in its original context below.
This isn't the first time Stussy has shared such criticism. Back in 2015, for example, he publicly called out the practice of recirculating older designs of which he was especially proud but that had gone "way past" their freshness dates.
As for his more recent remarks about the lameness of re-releases, some have linked these remarks to whisperings about a potential 8-Ball fleece re-up from Stüssy. Worth noting, however, is that Stussy himself did not get specific when elaborating on the importance of the vintage chase.
