Samsung cancels its partnership with Supreme Italia

In the unfolding saga of uncharted legal terrain that is the incredible Supreme Italia story which nss is at the forefront of, Supreme Italia, after its inception in the small quaint seaside town of Barletta in Puglia, shifted shores and greatly expanded its business by establishing numerous flagships in Spain, rebranded as Supreme Spain. The world's attention was finally grabbed when the multi-Billion dollar South Korean conglomerate Samsung at the end of last year, announced that they were collaborating with the uber-hyped Supreme brand, which in fact was shortly thereafter shown to be the legally fake Supreme Italia, a brand controlled by International Brand Firm (IBF). In the aftermath, things were pretty much left in limbo, as a statement from Samsung stated ambiguously that they were “currently re-evaluating this cooperation.”

In the months that have passed nss has spoken to insiders of the deal from both sides, with each side stating slightly conflicting information. Supreme Italia confirmed the deal was going ahead as planned, nss staff even saw the multi-storey shop being constructed in Shanghai when visiting China. While insiders close to Samsung claimed the deal would not go ahead after finding out that it was not the NY Supreme brand founded by James Jebbia. It seems that today the final word has come, at least with regards to Samsung's involvement, when they via the main Chinese social media site Weibo announced that the deal with Supreme Italia would not be going ahead.

“Samsung Electronics had previously mentioned a collaboration with Supreme Italia at the Galaxy A8s China launch event on December 10th, Samsung Electronics has now decided to terminate this collaboration.”

The end of the partnership with Samsung is however not the end of Supreme Italia’s presence in China and has announced its participation in the coming Mercedes Benz China Fashion Week, along with the opening of the store still going ahead. Since the announcement of the collaboration with Samsung, Supreme Italia has greatly expanded, now the only one to hold the Supreme brand trademark in China, it has announced the opening of over 70 physical stores around the world, including Shanghai and Beijing.

The announcement of the end of the collaboration with Samsung also comes at a particular time, as tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and the whole country is celebrating.