REVISITING THE PAST WITH STÜSSY

Stüssy | Patta

The seven-piece collection that Stüssy has launched with Patta is a remarkable array of streetwear that resembles a collection of unique vintage treasures that one might stumble upon at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. Iconic Stüssy "Jazzman" and "Raggamon" logos are featured on vintage-style items such as Big Ol' Jeans and graphic T-shirts. The entire collection i

s priced between $50 and $220, a welcome relief from the exorbitant prices often charged by local vintage streetwear sellers. It's a common sentiment that spending $400 on a vintage Stüssy T-shirt from 1991 with moth holes is unreasonable. This collaboration between Amsterdam and California's heritage streetwear brands offers a sense of nostalgia that is still very much alive.

While the new Stüssy offers wearable clothing that doesn't overly focus on brand logos, the old Stüssy designs remind us of the timeless appeal of its archive streetwear, resonating like a smooth saxophone solo by John Coltrane.

Despite being a leading producer of modern streetwear, Stüssy never forgets its roots. Recently, the brand has been catering to the growing demand for its vintage pieces by opening an archive store in Brooklyn in late May, which will remain open until July.

The new Brooklyn store mirrors Stüssy's permanent archive store in Santa Ana, which was established in 2018. Interestingly, Stüssy had experimented with this concept of an archive store in New York City the same year it opened its Santa Ana store. Members of the Worldwide Stüssy Tribe in New York have been eagerly awaiting the return of this concept for almost five years. Given Stüssy's significant role in New York's streetwear history (James Jebbia managed Stüssy's New York flagship before founding Supreme), an archive Stüssy store in New York City has been long anticipated. It's a fitting strategy for Stüssy's Brooklyn archive store to juxtapose the brand's latest offerings with classic World Tour tees from the '90s.

Today's Stüssy offers new releases that subtly nod to the brand's 40-year history without resorting to exact replicas of vintage items—a pitfall many heritage brands fall into when releasing archival pieces. It's widely agreed that simply re-releasing a vintage grail, like an unnecessary retro Nike Dunk, can diminish the charm of a brand's archive.

The concept of patina, both physical and metaphorical, is real. An archival piece becomes a grail only when it serves as a time capsule, a tangible representation of a specific moment in a brand's history that can't be recreated, no matter how accurate the retro. Whether it's through a limited release of vintage Stüssy gear in its archive stores or by incorporating old graphics in its collaboration with Patta, Stüssy is here to offer gentle reminders of its past. While it could easily capitalize on its legacy by reissuing classic pieces, Stüssy is more interested in riding the waves of the future.