Will Samsung China’s deal with ‘knock-off’ Supreme brand backfire on the South Korean conglomerate?
Critics denounced the move on Weibo, while original New York streetwear brand Supreme lashed out against Italian ‘copycat’ after the partnership is announced
This article was originally written by Yiling Pan for Jing Daily
Another global brand has blundered with its marketing in mainland China. (Unless the “mistake” is all a ploy to get publicity.)
Chinese fashionistas were startled today by tech giant Samsung’s announcement at a Galaxy A8s phone launch in Beijing that it was partnering with luxury New York streetwear brand Supreme. Samsung said it plans to release the first collaborative item in 2019.
The problem? At least in the eyes of many Chinese netizens: Samsung isn’t talking about the New York-based streetwear brand Supreme, but a Supreme Italia competitor. The original Supreme recently lost a lawsuit in Italy alleging counterfeiting against the upstart.
Supreme US issued a statement: “Supreme is not working with Samsung … These claims are blatantly false and propagated by a counterfeit organisation.”
Was Samsung fooled or savvy? Samsung China’s digital marketing manager Leo Lau wrote on Weibo: “We are partnering with Supreme Italia, not Supreme U.S. The latter does not have a legal authorisation to sell and market in [China], but the Italian [company] has acquired the rights in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Samsung China is apparently endorsing the legality of Supreme Italia, an Italian copycat that was founded by a company that Supreme alleges took advantage of the lack of legal terms around Supreme’s trademark in Italy.
Thanks to the viral nature of Supreme branding, the move has created a buzz around the South Korean electronics and appliances brand, which has been bleeding market share, driving lots of discussions on Chinese social media. The topic has been viewed over 19 million times on Weibo.