Corteiz: Everything to Know About the UK Streetwear Brand

Staff Writer, Complex Style. @Lei_Takanashi

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Today, it's rarer to see hordes of shoppers mob city streets to buy a limited edition drop from any streetwear label. Drops are usually more organized thanks to raffles or scheduled online releases. The scarcity factor has also diminished as more brands vie to be sold in department stores or other retailers outside of their own. Today, it feels that many streetwear brands follow the same playbook. Design a seasonal collection, slot an online release date, hold physical pop-ups to promote the collection, and then continue selling items via stockists or other retail partners.

Then there’re brands like the bubbling British streetwear label Corteiz, which has employed unconventional guerilla marketing tactics to capture hype and allure unseen within streetwear in sometime.

Originally launched in 2017, Corteiz RTW (Rules The World) was founded by a once-mysterious 26-year-old British-Nigerian entrepreneur who goes by the name Clint 419. Within the past five years, the brand's logo of Alcatraz Island has blown up and is now spotted everywhere. Naturally, their garments have been frequently sighted on UK rap stars such as Central Cee, slowthai, Stormzy, and Dave. But recently, some of the biggest celebs have given Corteiz their seal of approval. Earlier this month, Drake wore a leather jacket that the brand released this winter, and Pharrell invited Clint to a private Friendsgiving dinner held at Selfridges in the fall.

This month, Corteiz unveiled its biggest move yet by revealing an upcoming partnership with Nike that includes a pair of Air Max 95s arriving in March.

So what is Corteiz and how did it become one of the most popular streetwear brands to come out of London since Palace? Keep reading to learn everything we know about Corteiz.

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