2020 has been the year of the unexpected. But through the turbulence of these unprecedented and unexpected times, there have been a fair share of good surprises. One of these positive surprises has been the unprovoked and out-of-nowhere reemergence of one of streetwear’s most storied brands, Stüssy. For the last few years, the brand had been putting out quality collections and dabbling in the collaborative space before turning things up to 100 this year. It’s not news to anybody that collaborations drive the most hype around brands and releases in the world of streetwear, but this year Stüssy has released several high profile collaborations with calculation and purpose, something that could be considered rare in today’s time. The brand has consistently collaborated with well-respected brands in and outside of the streetwear space in 2020, delivering partnerships with Birkenstock, Our Legacy, Matthew Williams (now of Givenchy), No Vacancy Inn, and Nike.
Imagery from the Stüssy x Our Legacy Lookbook
It’s also worth noting that 2020 is Stüssy’s 40th Anniversary. Perhaps the brand has simply juiced this year with the intention of celebrating such a milestone, though we hope they take the momentum into the future. In honor of their 40th anniversary, we sat down with one of Stüssy’s regular stylists to talk about the brand’s resurgence, heritage, and their recent collaborations. Michael Martin-del-Campo has been working with Stüssy since 2015, originally starting on the store floor and eventually moving into a stylist role. His most recent work for Stüssy includes both the Our Legacy and Birkenstock collaboration editorials. Martin-del-Campo has also done work for friend of StockX, Reese Cooper, on his Pre-Fall 2020 lookbook and has contributed to Stüssy’s seasonal editorial lookbooks.
As Stüssy nears the end of its 40th year in business, what does the brand mean to you?
For me, Stüssy is and always has been relevant. They’re one of longest-running streetwear brands in the world. In a lot of ways, they kind of started it all. For the past two years, Stüssy’s had a really great creative team. When I first started at Stüssy in 2015, I felt like they were a heritage brand. It’s classic, like Brooks Brothers or Polo Ralph Lauren; it’s Americana in its own way. If you’re a younger person you may love it and if you’re an older person you may think to yourself, “I used to love it.” They started as a youth-oriented surf & skate California brand and they still are. It’s not that different from Polo or any brand that stays true to themselves. Polo isn’t entirely relevant right now but when you see a Polo ad, you know it’s a Polo ad. There’s something special about being true to yourself and upholding the same aesthetic.
Stüssy is one of those brands that still has iconic imagery from the early ages that’s still being used. We’re still referencing the same logos and images that were originally used in ads or on t-shirts in the 80s. We used imagery like the crown and the 8-Ball in the Birkenstock shoot and those logos are as iconic as the Polo Horse to me. In that way, they’re not that far off. Stüssy’s been around for 40 years and some people are shocked to hear that. To me that’s iconic, that’s heritage. When I say they started everything, they really did. Stüssy is a household name.
Imagery from the Stüssy x Birkenstock Lookbook
Stüssy’s popularity has seen a resurgence in the last few years. What are they doing now that’s different?
Stüssy is embracing their relevance after being dormant for a while. Collaborations are a huge part of that. In the past few years, all of Stüssy’s collaborations have had meaning. They haven’t done a collaboration that hasn’t made sense. For instance, Birkenstock or Our Legacy or Nike; these are collaborations that make sense. They’re not something that people are scratching their heads at or asking why it’s coming out. Stüssy is a classic brand that’s re-emerging on the back of things that nobody else is really doing. There’s a lot they do that sets them apart.
What is it that sets Stüssy’s recent partnerships apart from other collaborations?
The collaborations are just very thought out. It’s about questioning why it’s being done or why it needs to be done, making sure it’s more than just “brand name x brand name.” That kind of stuff generates hype but Stüssy isn’t just trying to generate hype items. Nowadays when you hear about a collaboration, you get the sense that people feel like they need to own it because it’s associated with being limited. I think so much of the collaborations these days can feel like fashion or streetwear junk food and Stüssy’s figured out a way to make these products without leaving a bad taste in your mouth. Stüssy doesn’t want to generate hype that way. It’s more about creating a good product.
It also comes down to wearability. When you do something like a Birkenstock collaboration, it’s just two colorways and it doesn’t need to be more than that. It doesn’t need to be overly branded, it doesn’t need to be loud. It’s the same thing with the Nike collaboration or Our Legacy. With things like Nike or Our Legacy or Birkenstock, the feedback we hear is, “Hey, that looks great.” It’s not just going in one ear and out the other.
Imagery from the Stüssy x Our Legacy Lookbook
Let’s dig into those collaborations. What was the inspiration and story behind the Birkenstocks shoot?
The inspiration was like an upper class gardening fantasy scenario. We had a giant bush shaped like an 8-ball and a bush shaped like the Stüssy Crown. I wanted to dress them in something lighter that would fit the scenario. It’s funny because if you look at the clothes it’s not something that anyone would realistically garden in. It’s stuff you wouldn’t really want to get dirty but we wanted to go in that direction on purpose and tell the story of a person who’s kind of retired and working in their garden in front of a super nice house. I really wanted to tell that story.
What about Our Legacy?
The Our Legacy lookbook was kind of a coming back to our usual Stüssy vibe, a California vibe. We’ve done our fair share of beach shoots and for this one, we thought it made sense to tell the story of two people who are super comfortable together hanging out on the beach. We wanted to show the leisurely aspect of the clothes and how comfortable they are. A lot of it is tailoring but we wanted to go against the general feeling that tailoring may be something up-tight. The general tone was basically trying to create the feeling of high-end designer advertisement from the 90’s. It was something that we were really proud of and as we were shooting it we just knew that it was going to come out really good.
Imagery from the Stüssy x Birkenstock Lookbook
Where do you see Stüssy headed? Where are they going?
As cliche as it sounds, they can really only go up from here. I felt like the turning point was in the first few years after I started, 2015-2018. That was when things started happening to lead to the reemergence. And now, in 2020, we’re in it. It’s not about re-emergence anymore though, we’ve already re-emerged. Stüssy is already officially killing it. So now I just see Stüssy continuing to go further. It’s re-established its relevance, it’s re-established that it’s one of the best so it can’t stop now. Momentum is going to keep moving forward.
Follow Michael Martin-del-Campo on Instagram here and check out the rest of his work at his website here.
Shop Stüssy’s 40th Anniversary World Tour T-shirt collaborations from Off-White, Rick Owens, Mark Jacobs, and more on StockX below!
