Shawn Stussy Restarts the Style-Monster Machine With New Brand

In the dead heat of summer, on Independence Day weekend, iconic stylist and surf legend Shawn Stussy abruptly “unretired” from his sanctuary abode on Kauai , relaunching one of his personal brands: S/DOUBLE. The man who made streetwear a defined style is back, and his label is now about to debut its premiere line this September.

The surfer turned designer whose last name is one of the most recognizable in streetwear history, is reviving his S/Double label in collaboration with skate/surf heritage brand Globe, according to fashion media Highsnobiety.

Just to be clear, Stussy told SURFER he will not be taking over his namesake label or involved with it in any capacity. Slipping away to his Hanalei hideaway, Shawn hasn’t had any direct affiliation with the streetwear giant since he sold his shares in 1996.

But this is not going to be Stussy redux. On the contrary, this is his progressive, un-filtered, personal S/DOUBLE brand. Although he’s launching the revival with help from Peter and Stephen Hill, the Australian founders of surf and skate brand Globe, make no mistake – this is Shawn’s own vision even if it’s missing his unmistakable signature.⁠

"I am engaged and ready to move the needle once again," Stussy said in a hand-written note announcing S/DOUBLE's return.⁠⁠Not surprisingly, says Highsnobiety,

Stussy’s first version S/DOUBLE's elegant oeuvre was way ahead of the curve.⁠ “Its sophisticated American and Japanese-made hoodies, five-pocket jeans, leather belts, and work boots predated modern-day post-skate movement. (think Noah, ALD, even contemporary Stussy) and even foretold the 2011 menswear boom.⁠”⁠

But as culture writer Mike DeStefano noted, “S/DOUBLE was arguably too ahead of its time: Only four years after it began, its final lookbook came in 2014. S/DOUBLE quietly ceased operations by 2017 with a BEAMS collaboration issued the prior year.”⁠
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Stussy hasn't revealed what exactly he is up next for S/DOUBLE or even posted about the relaunch on his personal Instagram, though he's offered some hints. One big possibility: a Shawn Stussy-ified Land Rover.⁠

Stussy has deep roots in surfing. Since the days when Shawn would show up at Lower Trestles in the '80s with his posse in tow, I’ve watched an amazing talent go from backyard shaping guru to international fashion designer. His charisma was always there. ( Stus may have been the first shaper who traveled with an actual entourage before people even called it that.) But he was also an accomplished style master, a natural artistic talent and an innovative creator.

Before there was ever a fashion line, the brand's founder was a shaper with a huge underground following. Stussy put his now-iconic signature on his boards in black marker. It proved to be as much of a hit among surfers then as it is in streetwear circles today.

I remember his first foray into the fashion end of the business in 1981, when he made up some printed logo T-shirts and carted them into the Action Sports Retailer trade show. Suddenly, buyers gravitated towards the shirts more than the boards. It was a revelation.

“I stood there for three days and I sold about 24 boards,” Stussy told Empire Ave in 2013. “At the end of the three days I had sold a thousand T-shirts; I was like ‘are you kidding me?’”

Stussy enlisted the help of Frank Sinatra Jr. (no relation to the singer) in 1984 to help grow the apparel side of the business. Sinatra applied the hard management to Shawn’s soft touch. With Sinatra’s business savvy and Stussy’s design talent, the company relaunched with a new positioning in the marketplace: a lifestyle clothing brand inspired by surf, skate, and hip-hop culture. Now many refer to this synthesis as streetwear, but it was really an unintended convergence waiting to happen. Stussy is seen as a godfather of the genre despite always remaining aloof from any specific category or definition of his brand.

“Everybody calls it surf wear, or urban street wear, or surf street," Stussy told the New York Times in 1992. "They're all names. I don't name it, and I don't name it on purpose. I just make basic clothes that a 10-year-old can wear and my dad can wear."

It’s likely those kids may now be dads themselves. But there’s a good chance they (and their offspring) will once again be marching towards S/DOUBLE in double-time.

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