The time Stussy had a lifestyle brand
Remembering the Japan-exclusive Stussy Livin' GENERAL STORE
Last week I was browsing Stussy’s website when I stumbled across a strainer that was decked out in the brands signature S motif throughout. Although my first reaction was to chuckle, it did remind me that Stussy used to have a lifestyle label that would make everything from welcome mats in the classic Stussy font to collaborating with Modernica on Fiberglass Arm Shell Chairs that would retail for $700 in 2016.
Stussy Livin’ GENERAL STORE started in 2011 as a Japan-exclusive concept store that focused on making objects for the house—they also had a little bit of clothing too, mostly basics and some footwear.
The lifestyle label did come to America a few times through exclusive pop-ups on the west coast, but Livin’ GENERAL STORE had gained such a strong cult following back home that Stussy Japan just ended up focusing on this region.
There’s definitely a strong culture around collecting objects from your favorite brands—I mean, look at Supreme—but Stussy went even further with this idea. They were making lifestyle lookbooks that would set the stage for a specific type of person while filling these spaces with Stussy branded objects.
They were making everything from shampoo to furniture and everything in between. For some stuff the branding was as expected, while the more premium collaborations remained lowkey with subtle branding—you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was Stussy unless you really looked at it up close, and that’s something that made this stuff work.
The label was only around for about 7 years before quietly stopping operations, but during that time they ended up making a lot of cool stuff.
Is Stussy teasing a return to lifestyle through their recent ‘S’ strainer? Probably not, but it would be fun to see them tap into that world a little bit more—we obviously come back for the clothes, but who wouldn’t own a little Stussy object in their house if it was actually good?
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Although this brand isn’t around anymore, you might be able to try your luck on secondary markets in Japan like Mercari—surprisingly enough, the cult following of Livin’ GENERAL STORE is still very active to this day, so it’s worth a shot to secure one of these rare items.
