WeSC

WeSC - short for We Are the Superlative Conspiracy - was founded in Stockholm, with the brand launching in 1999 and formally incorporated in January 2000. Its founders came out of Sweden's skateboarding and snowboarding scene: Greger Hagelin, a professional skater active through the late 1970s and 1980s who had already built two skate and snowboard retail chains (G-Spot and Backside Air Mail) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, co-founded the label alongside David Hedman, Pontus Karlsson, Ingemar Backman, Mattias Hallencreutz and Torbjörn Gunnahr. The name plays on two ideas: "Superlative" for the pursuit of excellence across skating, music, art and design, and "Conspiracy" for a shared creative underground. WeSC built its identity on apparel, footwear and later on-ear headphones aimed at that skate and street-culture audience, and collaborated over the years with brands and figures including Adidas, Absolut Vodka, Nokia and the Andy Warhol Foundation, along with skaters and musicians such as Jason Lee, Arto Saari and RZA. The company has changed ownership and licensing structures more than once since its early-2000s growth, and today is run by CEO and CMO Joseph Janus, under whom WeSC states it operates in 27 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas.