Anti Social Social Club cashed hype — then failed to deliver to 1,000+ customers

Anti Social Social Club was founded in 2015 by Neek Lurk (Andrew Buenaflor), a former social media marketing manager at Stüssy, in Los Angeles. The brand exploded almost overnight through a simple formula: a bold logo on basics, limited drops via pre-order, and celebrity endorsements. Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and BTS all wore ASSC. The brand's ironic depressive aesthetic — 'I Miss You Already,' 'Get Weird,' 'Self Doubt' — resonated with a generation raised on social media. By 2016, ASSC was one of the fastest-growing streetwear brands in the world.

But the business model was a house of cards. ASSC operated entirely on pre-orders — taking customers' money upfront with delivery promises of 4-6 weeks. In reality, orders took 6 to 18 months to arrive, if they arrived at all. By September 2017, Hypebeast reported that ASSC owed over 1,000 customers their merchandise. Korean customers separately filed 1,320 complaints worth 500 million won. The Better Business Bureau accumulated complaint after complaint about undelivered goods, unresponsive customer service, and a refund policy that read 'ALL SALES ARE FINAL.'

Neek Lurk's response was conspicuous silence. He continued posting on Instagram while customers waited months for answers. The brand that had been worn by Kanye was now the subject of a Change.org petition calling for FTC complaints. In 2018, ASSC launched a collection whose designs referenced the customer complaints — as if mocking the people who had paid and waited. The hype that had built the brand evaporated. New drops generated far less excitement; burned customers warned new ones away. ASSC went from streetwear's hottest name to a cautionary punchline in less than three years.

In May 2022, Marquee Brands — owner of Ben Sherman, Martha Stewart, and Dakine — acquired ASSC for undisclosed terms. The brand that had briefly defined 2010s hype streetwear became a licensing asset in a brand management portfolio. ASSC continues to release products through collaborations, and opened its first Selfridges pop-up in London in December 2024, but the cultural moment is long past. The brand's rise and fall stands as a textbook case of what happens when hype outruns operations.