OFF WHITE

LUXURY BRAND MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO

ARSHIA MEHRA Miss BHARGHAVEE

MFM/21/431
 About Off White
Summary
From Pyrex Vision to OFF-WHITE, Virgil
Abloh is a main stayer on the modern day
streetwear scene. Diagonal zebra striped
hoodies and yellow warning tape belts…ring
any bells? Whether or not you are keen to
keep an eye on OFF-WHITE, it is difficult for
you to overlook the salience of the high
fashion x streetwear hybrid brand. The
history of OFF-WHITE started with a ‘vision
from Virgil’, and soon went onto become a
brand on everyone’s lips.

Founded by American wunderkind Virgil

Abloh, since 2013, the Milan-based label has
opened showrooms in 15 locations around
the world and retained a star-studded line-
up of customers. With a masters degree in
architecture, who would have thought
Abloh’s sharp turn to designing premium
streetwear could bring in such success?
Under the garments, the multi-hyphenate’s
unique vision has always been the key.
Before Abloh branched out with his new
label, he formerly built a streetwear kingdom
under the name Pyrex Vision, which many
celebrities had embraced with open arms.
However, as he later faced controversy
regarding reusing and reselling
Lauren’s flannels, at an astronomical price
and after slapping the moniker of his own
brand on them, he scrapped the company.
Despite criticism, it wasn’t long until he
eventually came back with his new ambition,
and the history of OFF-WHITE started.
Not only does he now own a brand, but the US
entrepreneur is also involved in many other
ventures, including founding the RSVP Gallery in
Chicago and joining the #BEEN #TRILL crew. He
is a DJ and a filmmaker who directed a music
video for rapper Lil Uzi Vert last year. And most of
all, he is famously known as the creative director
of rapper Kanye West’s company DONDA. Abloh is
a major icon across the streetwear and music
scene.
OFF-WHITE plays a slightly different role than just
defining what’s hip on the streets and elsewhere.
Ralph To be precise, he is cultivating a sort of avant-
garde and cult apparel that merges streetwear
culture with premium fashion, like reaching a
common ground between the two extremes. The
brand name itself has an echoing take – it is
defined as the grey colour zone in between black
and white. The creative is experimenting with
getting a classic silhouette to a fresh direction,
something that caters for the young millennial
generation.

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 Summary
It is difficult to deny the sheer force that has
catapulted Off-White to the forefront of the
minds of young, hip, fashion-focused
consumers. Much has been made of Virgil
Abloh, the mastermind behind the Milan-
based brand, in the press since he launched
Off-White in 2014 after garnering fans with
his (now-defunct) streetwear brand, Pyrex
Vision. There is no shortage of lengthy
articles devoted to both ventures, and to
Abloh, himself, particularly given his ability
to step out of the shadow of cousin and
mentor Kanye West, and thrive in ways that
West has been unable to – namely, in
designing fashion.
Our focus is not on the rise of the Off-White
brand, though, or on Abloh’s footprint in the
worlds of streetwear and high fashion. It is,
instead, on Abloh’s use of existing graphics to
build a brand that resonates with consumers,
and whether he will be able to rely on
trademark protection in connection with
those very graphics.
Abloh’s most noteworthy offering comes in
the form of his brand’s logo –
THE READER
the diagonal line motif that is not in any way
exclusive to Off-White. It is the graphic you
find on cross-walks and on road signs – and
have found there for many decades now,
certainly long before Off-White’s inception.
As a brand builder, Abloh did something very
interesting here. Instead of utilizing a
distinctive brand-identifying logo, which is
what the vast majority of brands tend to do
(save for maybe Target with its bull’s eye logo
or Rolex with its stylized crown), he chose
one that is completely unoriginal.
The co-opting of a nearly universal design for
use on t-shirts, sweatshirts, trousers, jackets,
shoes, and bags comes with significant
benefits and drawbacks. On the upside, Abloh
has been able to piggyback off of an
extremely common and well known design.
“Off-White’s designs—brash and loud and
graphic, branded with black-and-white
diagonal stripes you can recognize from 30
yards away—are everywhere,” Zach Baron
wrote for GQ.
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 Summary
TheMan Behind
OffWhite

After studying the civil engineering program, Virgil Abloh graduated in 2002 from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. This same year, he met Kanye West and started designing his
merchandise and album art. At the same time as working for Kanye, Abloh began to take a
master’s degree in architecture, and he graduated in 2006. Kanye West and Virgil Abloh interned
together at Fendi in 2009, where they were not allowed to do anything. However, they became
closer friends until Abloh officially became Kanye’s creative director in 2010.

This made Abloh a trendsetter because every rapper now has a creative director. His first
significant product was the art direction for Kanye’s album with Jay-Z. Therefore, this project
pulled him into a broader hip-hop coal circle. In 2012, he opened his Pyrex Vision boutique. It
was the following year that Abloh founded Off-White. The design aesthetic for his brand was
diagonal lines and iconography of American cities. Abloh passed away on November 28, 2021,
after battling cancer for years.

Although Abloh is the sole owner of his fashion label, he is seldom working alone to maintain
excellent quality outputs. Throughout the years, his partnerships, with the likes of Levi’s,
Moncler and Nike, have kept the Milan label in the heart of streetwear. These collaborated
projects more or less echo with the brand’s ethos again – paying homage to a classic silhouette
with something aligned with Off-White’s very own aesthetic. We have seen Abloh using bolder
colours, as well as refashioning Levi’s denims in a way that has created a wear-and-tear vibe in
the Made & Crafted capsule. While with Nike “The Ten” collection, the artist deconstructs ten
signature sneakers, including the Air Max 97 and Air Jordan 1, restitches and reworks them to
deliver a nostalgic but fresh experience. The collaboration, unsurprisingly, has driven many
sneakerheads to frustration because of its limited quantity.

THE READER PAGE 04

 Why Off White is
considered a Luxury Brand
Summary

In 2017, the brand partnered with Nike to redesign ten of their best-selling and classic
products. The sneakers became quite popular and just as hard to purchase. Most of the
available pairs ended up in the hands of celebrities, and soon, the resale price hovered over
$1000. In 2018, he earned the title of artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear. It was one
of the most discussed topics throughout the year by top public figures in the fashion
industry. Afterward, Off-White designed a Nike collection for Serena Williams.

Over the years, there have been several collaborations with brands as their designer,
including Hiroshi Fujiwara, for who he designed a money clip that looked like a credit card.
Catering to young consumers, the brand continues to grow as streetwear demand grows.

It’s understandable why Off-White would be susceptible to criticism; it is partly due to its
fashion genre. People created luxury streetwear to restrict luxury fashion to the white elite.
This notion contradicts the fashion segment’s democratic root. Furthermore, its high price
point makes it inaccessible to most of the population. Although Abloh desired to put the
skateboard style in a revered position, this hasn’t manifested itself in his customer base. Off-
White customers are predominantly wealthy millennials and not everyday individuals.

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 Target Audience of

Summary
Off White
Off-White Has Strong Youth Appeal in Fashion

This brand is arguably the hottest streetwear brand in the world. According to the fashion
and e-commerce platform Lyst’s quarterly report, Off-White climbed 33 places in just a year.
The brand also surpassed fashion houses like Gucci and Balenciaga for the first time. The
brand isn’t a publicly-traded company. Therefore it’s hard to determine its revenue.
Streetwear is today’s luxury, and it continues to promote the high-end fashion industry.
Customers today are becoming younger, with Millennials and Gen Z taking over the fashion
industry.

Off White Star Products

The industrial belt in yellow is The off white bag with the The duct tape look in
on the star products and a industrial strap is a classic bag sweatshirts is another classic
classic in off white and comes in different colour for off white
ways

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