The Fashion Law Blog reports..
The mastermind behind a far-reaching scheme to bank on the enormous appeal of Supreme has been sentenced to jail time in connection with a criminal case that was filed against him by the famed streetwear brand. At the heart of the case: International Brand Firm Ltd. (“IBF”), a 7-year-old British holding company sitting on trademark registrations for Supreme Italia and Supreme Spain, and its owner Michele Di Pierro. Given that IBF does not have an affiliation with New York-based Supreme, the mega-famous streetwear brand that British transplant James Jebbia founded in 1994, its quest to amass trademark registrations in countries like San Marino, Italy, Indonesia, Singapore, and Spain, among others, and open stores in various cities in Europe and even China, has landed Mr. Di Pierro, 53, and his company on the opposite end of VF Corp-owned Supreme in trademark battles in an array of jurisdictions across the globe.
The country-spanning operation that is Supreme Italia got its start simply enough. Pierro identified an opportunity in Supreme’s tightly-controlled distribution chain, one that has seen the $2.1 billion company sell limited quantities exclusively in its brand-owned and operated stores, and exert razor-sharp focus on very-deliberate and measured expansion, which means that the the streetwear brand maintained less than a dozen stores for most of its 27-year-old existence. All the while, the streetwear brand engaged in truly de minimis traditional marketing, and while Supreme existed “under the radar of mainstream fashion,” as the Guardian put it back in 2019, it garnered itself the reputation as one of the most cult-followed brands in the apparel space.
