Chinatown Market is the brainchild of Mike Cherman who got his start in fashion making bootleg garments when he couldn’t afford the real thing. His fame skyrocketed at ComplexCon selling unauthorized Frank Ocean Nike t-shirts, which brought in $45,000 in 24 hours, none of which he could keep after Ocean sued him for trademark infringement.
Sherman is a genius of visual language, knowing how to use cultural icons and symbols to build notoriety. He sent a pair of bootleg Converse All Stars featuring prominent Nike swooshes to LeBron James. James wore them during a shootaround, garnering broad attention.
Through a series of wildly popular iconoclastic designs, Chinatown Market has become so successful that bootlegs of their products have begun popping up.