Let’s just put the elephant in the middle of the room, shall we? Not a real brand, Off-White was a Virgil Abloh dream, and this one happens to have prices attached to it. The diagonal stripes, the quotation marks on random words, the zip ties hanging off of sneakers, there it went, it was “good design” in the traditional sense. It worked because it was said by Virgil who people believed. Five years on from his passing, let’s gauge whether Off-White remains relevant, or we’re all just being polite in saying that a car is running when it isn’t. I’m not looking for clicks, I just think it is a legit question, so let’s get to work.
Who Virgil Abloh Was, Really
If you’re from the 2010s and used Tumblr or Instagram back then, you know, but for the sake of clarity, let me explain this scene. Founded in 2013 as an initiative by Virgil after his time working with Kanye West, Off-White has now created a space that the sneakerheads, art kids, DJs and the real Paris runway snobs could never have envisioned. He said it was the “3 percent approach,” by which he meant taking something that already exists and moving it just slightly to make it new. That’s where the quotation marks came from, that’s where the diagonal stripes and industrial zip ties came from. It was not a new shape creation, it was a test to ask yourself the question: What is the purpose of the shape?
He also moved about differently from other designers. He deejayed. He worked with Nike, basically everybody that allowed him to remix their logo, Ikea, Evian. In 2018, he became the first black artist director of Louis Vuitton menswear, an event that was truly historic. To him, Off-White was not just a brand, it was a cultural operating system and that’s something no one has been able to duplicate since.
What Happened After November 2021
Fashion world was taken aback by Virgil’s sudden departure from this world in November, 2021, which came after a secret battle of cancer. The brand was valued highly by LVMH, who had recently acquired a controlling interest in Off-White, and was very culturally charged.LVMH – who had just obtained a controlling stake in Off-White – had a pretty valuable, pretty culturally loaded brand and none of its captains.
Ib Kamara, who’d been styling Off-White shows and was editor-in-chief of Dazed, stepped in as art and image director in 2022. But pay attention to the title; it’s not creative director. That was important to the inside man, as it indicated that LVMH wasn’t certain it wanted anyone to take over completely from Virgil, merely to run what he has left.
In September 2024 (Virgil’s 44th birthday), LVMH sold Off-White to Bluestar Alliance, who have other brands under their portfolio, such as Scotch & Soda, Hurley, and Bebe. That was a very nice moment of homage or a strange coincidence it’s hard to tell. Regardless, it was a pretty loud message that LVMH has abandoned any attempt to understand how to use a brand that is so reliant on a single identity.
What Off-White Has Actually Been Doing In 2025 and 2026
This is where it’s interesting, as Off-White hasn’t taken a seat on the sidelines and decayed. Evoking Black culture’s influence on hip-hop, disco and graffiti, Ib Kamara has heavily embraced the New York experience, presenting Spring 2026 in NYC rather than Paris, featuring a Lower East Side high school rooftop for a runway. The entire pitch for Kamara is that Off-White is “supposed to be for everybody,” a sentiment that mirrors Virgil’s original community-first, inclusive energies.
Then it was 2026 and some unexpected moves. Off-White’s first major foray into a completely new product category, “TIME,” was born out of its industrial aesthetic design, translated into a watch. It was also the beginning of “10×10: Off-White Icons Reimagined,” which featured 10 creatives, such as Raul Lopez from LUAR and stylist Veneda Carter, who each reimagined 10 of Off-White’s most iconic styles. And that summer, Off-White revived its “For All” brand as a new youth-oriented sub-brand, L/AB, which was launched on Pacsun to appeal to a younger, budget-conscious audience.
So, to be fair to them, it isn’t all about redesigning old arrows, and that’s it. They’re pushing new categories, new collaborators, new price points.
Legacy Brand or New Identity? Let’s Be Honest
I’m really just here to give you my honest opinion: Off-White is desperately attempting to create something new and, in the process, making the opposite argument. All announcements, from the watches to the L/AB relaunch, are still based on Virgil’s name and his “Laboratory of Fun” approach. Is Off-White still a brand in its own right, apart from Virgil? Not really. It’s pertinent since it continues to call up him, respectfully, but repeatedly. There’s not a new identity, it’s a well-dressed tribute act!
Kamara is obviously gifted and has a point of view. However, deliberate does not equal dominant and that’s something that just hasn’t been bridged yet.
The Streetwear Community’s Honest Reaction
If you ask any person who was really into sneakers during Virgil’s time if Off-White is still relevant to their everyday life, very few will say it is like it was. Check any sneaker Discord or any streetwear forum and the vibe is always the same: People like the things Off-White did, but they aren’t crazy about what he’s doing now. Once unwaveringly a flex piece in the industrial belt, it’s now a bit of a throwback if not “I bought this in 2019.” I don’t think the people don’t like the brand, they just don’t have the hunger anymore.
Resale Value In 2026
Numbers don’t lie and they’re telling an honest story, albeit a mixed one. The off-White industrial belt has seen its resale price fall by approximately 40% since 2021, where most used pairs are now sold for $80 to $150, compared to the flex-breaking value it had. The sneaker resale market in 2026 has also taken a chill, as there is less activity in releasing sneakers above retail than there was a few years ago. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as long as you’re looking for true Virgil-era pieces, particularly the Nike “The Ten” Off-White Jordan 1 Chicago, which will still cost you anywhere from 3 to 5 grand and that’s historical artifact territory these days. So it is easy to see that there is a strong divide between the archive and the current-era releases, with the former being valuable, and the latter not.
What Happens When The Genius Leaves The Building
This is not the first, and won’t be the last, example of a brand having to deal with such a situation. Remember Chanel since Karl Lagerfeld, or Alexander McQueen since Lee McQueen’s passing. Typically, the first few years is a period of shaky worship, followed by a period of success wherein the next generation has to discover their own voice and the brand is sustained on different terms, or the house begins to turn into a museum, and they sell clothing, too. Owned by a smaller brand management company, instead of a giant luxury conglomerate, the “museum” outcome seems more likely than the “bold reinvention” outcome, which is stuck in some kind of middle ground between the two.
The itismandystyle Verdict
So, what is the relevance of Off-White? Culturally, it’s coasting, hard, on a legacy that was never meant to be separated from its creator. Business-wise, it’s still alive, still shaping watches and young sub-brands, still pushing the product. But relevant, in the sense that it was a significant factor in the clothes people wanted to wear during the years 2017-2021 at least? No. That Off-White was Virgil’s, and even the nicest rebranding can’t bring it back. What remains is a solid, at times interesting fashion label that’s trying to do its best under impossible circumstances and that’s just a whole lot more than a lot of post-mortem brands can do. But if there’s lightning in a bottle this time, don’t hold your breath – it isn’t the magic of the brand, anyway. It was always his, Virgil’s.
