Samsung Partners With Fake Supreme Brand To Launch Flagship Store In China

Samsung just launched the Galaxy A8s in China and announced that it has partnered with fashion brand Supreme. Unfortunately, the brand that Samsung partnered with is not the same New York-based brand that’s known for its streetwear.

Right after announcing the Galaxy A8s at an event in China, Samsung China marketing head Feng En introduced the two CEOs of Supreme. The companies will be opening a flagship store in Beijing and will even hold a runway show in Shanghai as part of the partnership. While the announcement was made, the familiar Supreme logo was projected onto the screen.

What people didn’t know at the time is that the Supreme brand that Samsung partnered with isn’t the same one that’s based in New York despite having a similar logo. The brand is actually operated by an organization called International Brand Firm and it’s also known as Supreme Italia. The “real” Supreme wasn’t able to trademark its name in some countries, which is why this fake one is able to legally use the same brand name and even the same logo.

Supreme Italia, which is based in the town of Barletta, was able to register the domestic trademark and is thereby protected by local law. This also allows the fake brand to keep selling its “legal fake” goods, according to Engadget. The real Supreme even lost a counterfeiting case in Italy to Supreme Italia in August. The court ruled that there wasn’t sufficient confusion between the two brands based on its local lawfulness regulations. International Brand Firm has also registered the brand Supreme Spain and its operating legally in Spain.

It appears that Samsung was clearly aware of the history between the two battling brands. The South Korean phone maker even released a statement to address the situation.

“We are collaborating with Supreme Italia, not Supreme NYC. Supreme NYC has no sales and marketing authorization in China but Supreme Italia has obtained product sales and market authorizations in the Asia Pacific region (except Japan),” Samsung China’s digital marketing manager Leo Lau said on his now-deleted Weibo post (via The Verge).

The real Supreme isn’t too happy with Samsung collaborating with Supreme Italia. The New York-based brand sent an official statement to Hypebeast clarifying that it is not working with Samsung, and it is not opening a flagship store in Beijing. The real Supreme also called Supreme Italia “a counterfeit organization.”