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• Obey is an urban streetwear brand inspired by the graffiti art of Shepard Fairey. The line first originated as a street art campaign in 1986 by Michael Meinhart, Blzaize Blouin, Alfred Hawkins, and Mike Mongo Nicholl. Its popularity was based on the use of ex-wrestler Andre the Giant as an artistic manifesto which eventually gave way to a clothing line popular among skaters.

• Fast Facts

  1. Founded in 1989
  2. Home Base: Orange County, California
  3. Offshoot company of Obey Giant Art
  4. Available for men and women
  5. Clothing sold online and in retail stores
  6. Retail range: $30 - $50

• The Look

  T-shirts and hoodies are just part of a full line of apparel that incorporates politics, art, and urban culture into their slogans, graphics, and patterns. Although the brand is mainstream, their look and design remains fiercely independent.

• Obey becomes Giant

  The concept of using Andre the Giant as an art campaign was intended as an inside joke directed to the skater culture who began posting stickers and posters of the graphic with the wrestler's face. First starting in Rhode Island, the stickering caught on and by the early 1990s the image had reached across the country. By 1998 a lawsuit threatened the artists to stop using the trademarked "Andre the Giant" name, so the creators branded the image with the word OBEY. The slogan was derived from the cult classic film They Live starring Roddy Piper.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Clothing | Graffiti | Shepard Fairey | Roccawear | House Of Dereon | Rock and Republic | GRN Apple Tree | Cardboard Robot | LRG | RVCA | Zoo York | Fresh Jive

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