Men's clothing from Obey

Shepard Fairey is arguably one of the USA's most prolific street artists, possibly one of the world’s, with his work now displayed globally. From the sides of buildings and dark subways to the Museum of Art in London, Shepard's Obey Propaganda pieces have met great acclaim.

It all started in 1989 when Shepard was teaching his friend at how to stencil. They randomly selected an image of Andre the Giant to use. This then got turned into stickers and accompanied by the phrase "Andre the Giant Has a Posse". They produced stickers using this image and with the help of his fellow skaters and BMX friends started to distribute these stickers all around the best skate spots in the USA.

Shepard states that the message was the medium itself. No hidden meaning in the image or the text but just an experiment in phenomenology. The existence of the sticker on a wall or bin makes the viewer aware of its presence and the environment it is in. Many would argue this is merely vandalism, a point which seems ironic to the Obey camp. It is only viewed as vandalism as the image itself does not intend to sell a product; otherwise, this would be seen as acceptable by all as advertising.

Obey now has a whole range of clothing that continues to promote the "medium is the message" word of Shepard but also slightly poking fun at itself often choosing to use the slogan obey Propaganda". The most sought-after design in recent years has been the men's t-shirt and Snapback caps, particularly those featuring the Obey Bar Logo or the Obey Icon Face. Other sought-after t- t-shirts have been the Obey Trademark T-shirt which features the number 7-4, claimed to be Andre the Giant's height and 520 weight in Lbs.

We now stock a wide range of men’s cotton t-shirts from Obey that focus on the artistic element and design qualities that sum up Obey.