It’s not unusual in 2022 for an artist to deliver merchandise alongside an album or single. The artist merch capsule has become an expected addition to the traditional album release process, similar to the announcement of a tour or the delivery of a single. Over the last few years, we’ve watched the next evolution take place as artists begin to either partner with other brands for long-term partnerships, like Drake and Nike or Kanye West and GAP, or open their own apparel brands, like Young Thug’s Sp5der or Justin Bieber’s drew house. Young Thug’s brand, Sp5der, has become increasingly popular over the last year and as the artist continues to rack up hits, it’s likely that his brand will grow with him. The brand’s most popular product so far is the Sp5der Punk Hoodie, which was made available in two different colors and finds itself the focus this week.
Young Thug is an Atlanta native who started his hip-hop career in 2010 and has become one of the most popular rappers in the world over the last twelve years. He founded his clothing brand Sp5der in 2019 and releases his Spider-focused apparel primarily through a pop-up e-commerce site or physical pop-up shops. So far, most of Sp5der’s apparel have been hoodies, t-shirts, and sweatpants, though the brand will occasionally drop a spider-web-emblazoned jacket or trucker hat. The brand takes Young Thug’s iconic androgenyous style and applies it without apology to the brand’s hoodies, sweatpants and t-shirts. Most pieces feature some kind of crystal bedazzling, and the brand’s cut and sew jackets and trucker hats are nearly covered in it.
The Sp5der Punk Hoodie was made available in a hot pink colorway and a black colorway and prominently features the brand’s bedazzling running along the outside of the P*nk! logo on its chest. Surrounding that logo is a bright yellow text that says “nevermind the spider, here’s the slime”, which is a reference to one of Young Thug’s most often used slang terms: slime. The P*nk! Logo and surrounding text is laid over a white screen printed spider-web graphic that is surrounded by, and covered in, different colored stars, another go-to design motif for Sp5der.
While the majority of Sp5der’s releases are not tied to Young Thug records, the artist has made the brand his primary avenue of distributing merchandise. This Sp5der Punk Hoodie was delivered several months ahead of the album for which it was promoting, and it’s release date, August 15th, was the day before Young Thug’s birthday. This hoodie was released early, both as a celebration of the artist’s birthday and as the opportunity to support his forthcoming album, Punk. The album was released to critical acclaim in October of 2021 and featured guest appearances from other hip-hop giants like Drake, Post Malone, and Gunna. The popularity of the hoodies on StockX only further amplifies the success of the Young Thug album, which charted at #1 upon its debut.
As a relatively new brand to StockX, Sp5der hasn’t yet become as large as some other artist-founded brands on StockX, though it’s well on its way. Compared to a brand like drew house, Sp5der doesn’t have quite the same catalog available, but the two brands’ most popular pieces are very comparable. Nearly 800 units of the pink Sp5der Punk Hoodie have been resold on StockX, which is in the same ballpark as drew house’s most popular hoodie. Young Thug fans will be hopeful that the artist will take his brand to the next level and start delivering more regular releases this year and if that happens, they’ll certainly be available on StockX.
Buy & Sell the Sp5der Punk Hoodie alongside other pieces from the Young Thug-founded apparel brand on StockX below.
