On November 13th London-based streetwear brand ‘Cortiez’ joined forces with the American ‘Badfriend’ and took the streets of London – Brick Lane precisely – to sell their limited edition, collaborative collection of tee shirts and jeans. With hundreds of people lined up down the block waiting for the release – hours before the popup shop was set to open up the doors – it was undeniably a huge success for the two brands and the brand that claim it “rules the world” certainly displayed that (so far) they are at least ruling the streets of London. 

 

Being a brand with a cult following like Corteiz boasting over 200 thousand followers on their Instagram account and over 100k on Clint’s personal account – the creative director and founder of the brand that is currently taking over London - the turnout of hundreds of teenagers eager to get their hands on their newest release was not at all a surprise. Especially because we can already see the power that they have in the London streetwear clothing market, albeit rather intangibly, through their online releases in which they advertise a collection, then release a password for their website that will open at a certain time…and with thousands of people sat on their computers (or often multiple devices) ready to purchase as many pieces as they can from the newest drop. Due to limited quantity, the clothes – of course – sell out in minutes and consequently lead to there being more demand than supply – creating a market for reselling their goods at a greater price. Although Clint attempts to combat this, refunding people who he sees with his newest clothes up on secondhand selling sites like eBay and Depop moments after its release. However, in real life, you could truly see this resale market firsthand. All that could be heard throughout the line were talks of “how much do the tees cost” and “how much do you think its gonna resell for” – thus even though Badfriend itself is a popular brand with a respectable 21 thousand followers on Instagram, it was clear the people were only there for one thing…Corteiz.

 

Thus, through this event we can see that Clint is continuing to break through barriers, reaching across the pond to work with the American brand ‘Badfriend’ and sell his ‘alcatraz logo’ tshirts out of boxes to British teenagers to display how he “rules the world” – whilst successfully selling the idea that anyone who wears what he creates also “rules the world”