‘I want to be Supreme successful’: Clot founder Edison Chen on going from Cantopop to streetwear king as his Hong Kong brand turns 20, with a The North Face collab in the works – exclusive interview

Apr 10 , 2023

Since his 1990s showbiz career, Hong Kong Cantopop star Edison Chen has redefined himself as a pioneer on the Asian streetwear scene with his brand Clot and the Juice chain of retail stores. Photos: Handout

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

The Hong Kong icon soared to fame in the 1990s with his Cantopop bops and by playing the younger version of Andy Lau’s character in Infernal Affairs, remade in Hollywood as The Departed

Now he sits atop a fashion empire with collaborations with Nike, Levi’s and Polo under his belt – but still aspires to be the next Nigo of A Bathing Ape, or Hiroshi Fujiwara

“We’re successful, but I want to be Supreme successful.”

Edison Chen does not mince words when it comes to the future of Clot, the streetwear brand he started in Hong Kong two decades ago. He only wants to be as big as the biggest name in the industry.

The one-time actor, rapper and all-round entertainment idol is in a contemplative mood as he looks out over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. It is a rare return to the city that made him a noughties-era superstar – but it’s business that’s on his mind. “I think I’d say the chapters of Clot have been written – what are the next few chapters?” he muses. “That’s really my motivation. To solidify my legacy in this industry and also to pass on the baton to the next [generation].”

Edison Chen rendered as an action figure, thanks to a Clot x Hackers x A Bathing Ape collab back in 2004.

Not shy of success, the 42-year-old is forensically clear about what he wants. Fleeting comparisons to Bathing Ape founder Nigo and the “godfather of streetwear” Hiroshi Fujiwara are only hardening his sense of purpose. “Some people say I already am [at that level], but I don’t feel it,” he admits. “I think a lot of people don’t understand what we’ve done for the culture. Maybe I’m overestimating that.”

But frankly, he’s not. Chen points to the doors he has opened in China, where streetwear and hip-hop culture has become so mainstream it even forms the backdrop for KFC adverts. Clot pioneered designs such as Chinese frog buttons on streetwear, later mimicked by the likes of Supreme and Lev Tanju’s Palace. Yet it’s still Fujiwara and Nigo he keeps going back to, setters of the bar that he measures himself against: “I just feel like I need to find my own position on Mount Rushmore and validate that I belong there first.”

An hour with Chen passes fast, listening to the multi-hyphenate ponder the mistakes and moments Clot has racked up over the past two decades – wins that include famous collaborations with Nike, Levi’s and Polo (“a ‘we made it, momma’ moment”). He jokes that his perspective has shifted now the label is approaching the US legal drinking age of 21.

A wall display inside the flagship Juicestore in Los Angeles.

It’s certainly a lifetime since the brand was launched with “75 T-shirts and a party” at a “mum and pop store on the third floor [in] Causeway Bay”, otherwise known as Chen’s inaugural Juicestore. Today, the brand sells Clot’s wares across 12 boutiques stretching between Los Angeles, Hawaii, Taiwan and across mainland China.

But, of course, Vancouver-born Chen had already become a star by then. Famously scouted while out clubbing in Hong Kong, he made his acting debut in a commercial at age 19. He pivoted to music a year later, breaking into both Cantopop and Mandopop despite the fact English is his mother tongue. Soon after, he was tapped to play a young version of Andy Lau’s character in Infernal Affairs, a landmark of Hong Kong crime cinema that was remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed.