Who's the owner of Supreme Italia?
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Michele Di Pierro has finally responded to the plagiarism accuses
After the first interview given to nss magazine anonymously more than a year ago, Michele di Pierro - the mind behind Supreme Italia - for the first time has come forward, giving an interview to the Wall Street Journal, one of America's most famous and prestigious newspapers. The battle between IBF - the company controlling Supreme Italia and Supreme Spain - and Supreme NY is still far from a solution, especially now that it has moved from Europe to China, where Di Pierro's brand has opened two stores in Shanghai. The opening of these stores had caused a strong reaction from James Jebbia, who had given one of his rare interviews to Business of Fashion.
In the interview, the entrepreneur coming from Bisceglie in Puglia (and not Barletta, as it is often written) has traced back the history of the brand to when it was trademarked in 2015, accidentally just one month after the trademark of Supreme NY:
When I filed for registration in Italy, I did it in good faith. I didn’t know it even existed. It wasn’t popular in Italy. There wasn’t even a store.
Before founding Supreme Italia, Michele Di Pierro has worked in the textile industry in the outskirts of Barletta, an industrial area specialized in the manufacture of printed sweatshirts and T-shirts. Around 2005 the factories of Barletta would produce the items of brands such as Monella Vagabonda, Jonk 46, Miss Ribellina and many others. Right in that area in 2012 began the legit fake phenomenon, with twin brands like Boy London Italia and Pyrex Original. Di Pierro became well-known as representant of these brand and it was involved in the bankrupt of a sports chain store, on which the legal authorities have yet to deliver a judgement.
In the interview to the Wall Street Journal, Di Pierro claims that the brand is substantially different from Jebbia's one, despite the fact that they both use the same red boxlogo and the Futura font, used by Barbara Kruger in her artworks:
Our success is not based on the box logo. It’s the quality.
Now that the legal battle has moved to China, Di Pierro stated that he has "more lawyers than employees", adding that the partnership with Samsung that caused a great scandal a few months ago was arranged by his Chinese partners. Both sides are still waiting for the response of Chinese authorities and it's likely that it won't take long before a final conclusion. Funnily enough, Di Pierro ended the interview by saying that he as well he's fighting against the fake in the production stage in Turkey and today in China:
I had to stop producing in Turkey because many factories would make thousands of items off the books. I saw a bus with the writing Supreme Italia on it that neither me nor my Chinese parteners had authorized.
