Along with announcing its upcoming Galaxy A8s smartphone, Samsung also recently revealed a partnership with high-end streetwear brand Supreme — though it turns out that this deal wasn’t actually with the real Supreme.
The electronics giant stated that it was working with streetwear company to launch a Supreme store in China, but the people that Samsung invited on stage weren’t actually from the official Supreme.
The company Samsung is working with is actually called Supreme Italia, a knockoff version of the iconic streetwear brand that is able to legally use the Supreme logo since Italy has a loophole regarding trademarks.
The real Supreme has since responded and stated that it is not working with Samsung to open a flagship store in China, according to Hypebeast.
Samsung’s chief digital marketing manager has also replied to the mix-up and clarified that Samsung is working with Supreme Italia, not the Supreme brand that was founded in the U.S.
As a result, it seems like Samsung knew that it was working with a fake brand, but decided to move forward with the partnership and announce it as if it was working with the real Supreme at its December 10th event.
Update 12/12/2018: Samsung has now backpedalled on its initial statement and said that it’s reevaluating the deal it made with Supreme Italia. The company also regrets any inconvenience it may have caused according to The Verge.
Source: Hypebeast, The Verge
