2001 Supreme Tokion Box Logo Tee

In 2001 the New York based skate brand Supreme and Japanese Magazine ‘Tokion’ collaborated for a very special box logo tee recognised as one of the most rare,obscure and culturally significant pieces ever created in the history of the brand and global streetwear as a whole.
Tokion, founded in 1996 by two American expatriates covered prominent topics around art,fashion,music and film during the early 90’s serving as a non-literal cultural bridge between America and Japan.
Supreme and Tokion share many parallels in their coverage of modern day figures held in high regard by both brands.
People like Lou Reed, James Brown and Harmony Korine were extensively covered and served as inspiration for both brands.
Supreme and Tokion both shared a common tendency in interchangeability.
After their initial opening in 1994, 4 years later Supreme opened 3 stores in Japan. In that same year of 1998 Tokion opened an office in Los Angeles and two years later in 2000 a retail space office in New York.
The box logo depicts an image of the New York office, a physical representation of the Tokion Magazine in the New York of Supreme.
On the left side of the box logo, the signature futura fonts reads the words “Supreme vs Tokion”. On the left side of the sleeve, the iconic Supreme box logo and Tokyon triangle are featured.
This t-shirts was made in very little quantities and is one of the most rare and obscure pieces ever created.
The total amount produced is rumoured to be around 100.
This piece is in close to deadstock condition with a 100 % clean print.
In 2009 Tokion was officialy sold and renamed as ‘Factory’ in 2010.
Nearly 18 years after the collaboration,this piece exists as a very interesting crossing of two culturally bilingual organisations highly influential in their respective contextual space.