Meet the New (Shawn) Stussy, Same as the Old Stüssy
Shawn Stussy's S/DOUBLE brand quietly reemerged in 2024 after nearly a decade of silence. With equal stealthiness, the first S/DOUBLE collection since 2016 or so has finally arrived online. Where's the fanfare?
Stussy, the eponymous co-founder of Stüssy (note the umlaut!), hasn't been involved with the world-famous streetwear brand bearing his name (and script) since the mid-'90s or so.
S/DOUBLE was Stussy's first proper stab at a fashion line since the early days of Stüssy and its return was about as abrupt as its departure.
"I am engaged and ready to move the needle once again," Stussy wrote in a 2024 letter announcing the S/DOUBLE revival. Since then, however, relatively little overt movement.
Though Stussy maintains a mostly infrequent social media presence. he did promote the first S/DOUBLE campaign imagery, which was full of hip youngs wearing very Shawn Stussy (read: quietly stylish) clothes in February.
No dedicated website, no collection information.
In late 2024, however, S/DOUBLE clothing began quietly releasing under the name of S/DOUBLE AU at a few Australian skateboard stores. S/DOUBLE AU's approachably priced wares comprise California classics like short-sleeved work shirts, graphic hoodies, T-shirts, washed jeans, and socks. Simple stuff.
The most interesting element, by far, is S/DOUBLE's graphic design.
Nearly every S/DOUBLE item wears Stussy's hand-scrawled "SHAWN" script logo, a clever stand-in for his far more famous last name. The branding is clearly deliberate, too, intentionally evoking that one other Stussy brand with its placement, shape, size, and script. Which, to be fair, all came from Stussy's own hand anyways.
S/DOUBLE AU products have even begun to trickle onto Rakuten and Yahoo! Japan, digital Japanese platforms that sell both new and used products (in the case of Y!J, mostly the latter). The sellers, importers of international clothes, note that "The new S/DOUBLE is currently only available in Australia and New Zealand," on the product pages (according to auto-translated Japanese text), which appears accurate.
I again reached out to Globe International, the Australian skatewear company that's backing Stussy's renewed S/DOUBLE for more information. Almost immediately after I got in touch with a Globe representative last year, the conversation stalled.
Founded in 2008, S/DOUBLE was pretty forward-thinking stuff, mixing streetwear branding with trend-beating menswear, abundantly accenting classic work shirts with Japan-made leather shoes and denim jeans.
S/DOUBLE was workwear with a casual edge, the sort of buy-it-for-life daily-wear that'd soon become omnipresent in the late aughts "#menswear" scene.
But the ethos of Stussy's line had enough graphic edge to go beyond the streetwear pale. Its best of both worlds proposition pretty neatly foretells modern post-skatewear stylings, which you could argue does include modern-day Stüssy.
Aside from a one-off partnership with Kim Jones' Dior, Stussy mostly spent the past decade absent from the business. It's legitimately cool that S/DOUBLE is his venue back in. My only quibble is that, thus far, his work isn't getting the visibility it deserves.
