With its meteoric rise from underground skate brand to fashion empire, knockoff Supreme gear is just as much a part of the culture surrounding the brand as its resale phenomena. But nobody foresaw the rise of the legal fake. It all came to light a few years back when a company called IBF registered the brand’s trademark in Italy, and began mass producing counterfeit gear under its Supreme Italia name. It lost in court in 2018, and the merch was ceased by authorities.

But the problem did not go away. IBF quickly registered the trademark in territories that the real Supreme slept on, including Spain and China; and there’s currently an ongoing battle in international courts between Supreme New York and IBF over this dispute. CNN investigates the matter in the above report that was released online yesterday.

Supreme is notoriously tightlipped when it comes to talking to the press. But the below commercial featuring Funk Master Flex that dropped last month to coincide with the brand’s Spring ’19 announcement seems to serve as its official statement on the matter.

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