Once the most provocative name in streetwear, Anti Social Social Club has become, of all things, an institution of sorts. The peers it brushed up against a decade ago have devolved and evolved, dropping out of the biz or mutating amidst a new age of splintered streetwear abutted by luxury contenders and indie upstarts.
Anti Social Social Club, meanwhile, is thriving. After 10 years of punkish industry disruption, it’s exactly where it’s always been: Releasing instantly sold-out drops coveted by its still-loyal, still-young fanbase.
If you aren’t already plugged in or are even one of the jaded Anti Social Social Club haters, well, these drops may not sway your taste. But that’s just fine: ASSC still does not care what you think.
“People will be fans or cynics of everything. It’s not that serious,” says Ian Coates, ASSC’s co-founder and head of design. “At the end of the day ASSC is forever in motion. It is all about a feeling.”
And to the dismissive streetwear elitists, Coates’ message is simple.
“Continue to be a snob, continue to love or hate whatever you want. That is the best part about this space, there is no right or wrong answer.”
ASSC was founded almost incidentally in 2015 by Neek Lurk, a Stüssy marketing manager turned hoodie entrepreneur. What began as a casual in-joke — ASSC’s name was always knowingly redundant, though its press release describes its origin as an “accidental art project” — morphed into an accidental and abrupt rise to infamy.
Was it was Lurk’s eye for inimitable branding — the wavy, all-caps Anti Social Social Club logo is arguably the single most recognizable streetwear logo of the 2010s — or his celebrity stylist pals, who got ASSC hoodies on the backs of Kim Kardashian, Pharrell, and Travis Scott? It was almost assuredly both, granting ASSC near-instant cultural omnipresence as it become a word-of-mouth phenom.
Lurk wasn’t ready. ASSC’s infrequent digital drops were perpetually mobbed by would-be buyers, selling out so swiftly that the ramshackle operation was plagued by perpetual production hiccups as it was forced to scale in real-time for international demand.
Shipping delays were legendary: ASSC’s belated fulfilment inspired much mockery — “Anti Shipping Shipping Club” was a common refrain, even among true believers — and Lurk would often return the sentiment in kind, printing impish references to customer complaints in new ASSC drops.
That’s all in the past. Lurk (and his much-loathed fleet of luxury cars) left ASSC many years ago.
Even the shipping qualms are mostly wrapped up with ASSC instituting (and alerting its fans to) its made-to-order output and more professional logistics program in June 2023.
Shortly after, ASSC was acquired by Marquee Brands, a holding company that also owns the licenses for Bruno Magli, BCBGMAXAZRIA, and Martha Stewart, an amusing turn of fate directly acknowledged by a subsequent ASSC drop. Though ASSC has a new parent company, the company is still overseen by three of the original cofounders, including Coates. And that’s really all that’s changed: The management may be new but the black hoodies are wholly intact. And wholly craved.
Because the acquisition had nothing to do with “saving” a floundering ASSC. On the contrary, ASSC is thriving in a niche of its own making. The deep-pocketed ownership is a sign of its canniness.
“ASSC, 10 years later, is as strong as ever and continues to earn its place in the world that it helped to build and influence,” Coates says. “Regardless of what ‘era’ we are in, ASSC is one of the more iconic and resilient brands out there due to our day-one supporters who have stuck with us through the multiple so-called ‘eras.'”
Coates asserts that the brand’s following is key, pointing to the “strong, authentic, and organic” fanbase that he says has remained with ASSC since the early days. Of course, ASSC has clearly (and successfully) expanded its reach since hen.
When asked, Coates didn’t provide specifics on the ASSC consumer base — “Our customers come from all walks of life.” — but it’s clear that though the brand remains especially popular among younger shoppers, it’s recently found especially strong success across Asia.
Pop-ups in Japan and China began back in 2016 while collaborations with regional partners like Filipino fast food chain Jollibee and South Korean streetwear imprint Kasina demonstrate a quietly astute approach to consumer targeting.
This successful reach is reflected in KOL (Key Opinion Leader) adoption, like when BLACKPINK singer Lisa wore ASSC as recently as late 2023.
To Coates’ point, though, it matters less who’s buying it and that, simply, people are buying it. And, boy, are they.
Streetwear has never been more fractured. As even streetwear institutions struggle to move product or rebrand themselves in a bid to remain relevant, ASSC’s strategy remains effectively unchanged.
Maybe it’s more modest SKUs, maybe it’s an ingrained customer base of ardent admirers but the objective truth is that, 10 years after it was first conceived, ASSC’s collections retain an air of exclusivity. What’s even more remarkable is that hardly anything has changed over the years: same black hoodies, same logo, same accompanying branding accessories. This is a phenomenon so remarkable that it’s inspired case studies.
ASSC’s only major update has come by way of its presentation. For instance, it now presents seasonal product with ambitiously styled campaigns as its social media presence is amplified by slick graphics and a host of youth culture celebs.
Part of the runaway success comes down to ASSC’s wildly prolific collaborations.
“Working with multiple partners from all ends of the Earth allows us to deliver to our customers exclusive products that can only be acquired from us,” explains Coates. “That has always been the beauty of the brand; that it can live in any circle or scene that our supporters see fit.”
The ASSC approach is almost an inversion of streetwear convention. Instead of patiently dribbling out collaborative projects, ASSC unleashes an almost constant array of impressively far-flung team-ups.
On one hand, there are cultural heavyweights like Hiroshi Fujiwara’s fragment design, BAPE, and UNDEFEATED, a 22-year-old member of the streetwear old guard and one of ASSC’s eldest partners.
And, on the other, there are franchises like My Hero Academia and Hatsune Miku, sporting names like UFC and Lost Surfboards, and the occasional left-field link-up, like erectile dysfunction subscription service BlueChew. Cash-in? Intentional fan trolling? Genuine bond? Don’t worry about it.
Collaborations are so key to the ASSC oeuvre that its 10th anniversary fare will release “Coachella-style over two weekends” on November 16 and 23 via the Anti Social Social Club website.
Partners include old friends like Alpinestars, Hello Kitty, Playboy and the US Postal Service — a classic ASSC shipping gag first made a legit collab in 2018. There are ASSC Uno cards, referential merch printed with typically sullen ASSC slogans like “Sick & Tired,” and an Xbox-inspired ASSC LiveWire S2 Del Mar motorcycle (!). Even that will likely all sell out in minutes.
A while back, I proposed that it was “too late for ASSC to pull a Stüssy.” That is, it’s likely not feasible for ASSC to rebrand itself as a “cool-guy” streetwear brand in the vein Stüssy or Aimé Leon Dore.
I still think that statement is accurate. However, I now believe it’s also besides the point. ASSC was never an IYKYK downtown-NYC flex. It was always a puckish revisionist, usurping the streetwear crown from its established “serious” peers with nothing but desired product. If anything, ASSC is pure streetwear. 10 years on, those peers have changed. ASSC has not. It hasn’t needed to. It never will.