In a brilliant display of getting the fans (and haters) talking following some gentle trolling on X, Clint 419, founder of London-based streetwear label Corteiz, clapped back at criticism of a preview of his upcoming collection.
With one keyboard warrior claiming Corteiz’s designs were “just getting worse” and lacked creativity, Clint 419 responded, challenging the troll to do better and asking them to stop the chat and show some skill by designing and posting a 10-piece Corteiz collection, offering £5,000 if he deemed it good enough. Even going so far as to provide CADs to help budding designers do their best work.
Asking people to quote tweet their submissions within 24 hours meant that socials were flooded with folk having a pop at the prize and hundreds of submissions flooding in. Ultimately, a 22-year-old total unknown from Syria scooped the prize with a 10-piece collection featuring a range of items that hit the mark, including a top inspired by Arsenal’s vintage yellow away kit.
Clint even retweeted some of his favourites, praising their potential and highlighting some less impressive efforts, like a horrific mark missing Big Ben crew neck jumper.
Despite some backlash suggesting he was exploiting his fanbase and that creating a collection is worth more than £5,000, the fact he returned to X to announce four finalists, allowed followers to vote for the overall winner and handed out runners-up prizes like £250 for the Corteiz online store £1000 in cash and Corteiz Nike Air Max 95s from his personal collection,
This whole endeavour has been a masterclass in brand awareness, turning detraction into opportunity with some personality-driven marketing that follows stunts like one-off product drops and password-protected sites that really have only served and served to keep fans engaged and on a relative shoestring.
