Story5 min
Hype, Resale and Collabs
Why two brands on one hoodie sells out in seconds, how resale became a stock market, and the quiet-luxury backlash.
The godfather
Streetwear’s collab culture traces back to Tokyo and Hiroshi Fujiwara, often called the godfather of streetwear. His label, fragment design, has collaborated with almost everyone, from Nike to Louis Vuitton. His friend Nigo founded BAPE.
The collab formula
Two brands, one product, a limited run, and an instant sellout. Some famous ones:
- Supreme x Louis Vuitton (2017): streetwear meets luxury.
- Off-White x Nike "The Ten" (2017): Virgil Abloh remixes 10 classic sneakers.
- Travis Scott x McDonald’s (2020): a celebrity meal that reportedly caused some restaurants to run short on ingredients.
Resale became a market
- StockX (2016) and GOAT turned flipping into a business. Buyers bid, sellers ask, and prices rise and fall like stocks.
- Brands fight bots with draws, like Nike’s SNKRS app.
- Hype isn’t just clothes anymore. In 2025, Pop Mart’s Labubu dolls sold out everywhere and resold for wild prices.
The backlash
- Quiet luxury (2023): plain, logo-free, very expensive clothes, made famous by the rich characters on HBO’s Succession. The opposite of hype.
- Dupes: TikTok creators showing cheaper look-alikes of expensive items.
Pop quiz
0/4 answered
Q1
Who is often called the godfather of streetwear?
Q2
Nike’s app that uses random draws for hyped releases is…
Q3
‘Quiet luxury’ took off in 2023 thanks partly to which show?
Q4
On resale sites like StockX, prices work like…