Wu Wear is back. The clothing brand the Wu-Tang Clan launched in 1995 was listed among the brands with exclusive drops at ComplexCon 2026, the festival's tenth anniversary edition, held October 3 and 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is the first real public return of the label in years, and it comes seven months after the death of the man who built it, Oliver "Power" Grant.
Let me be clear about what we know. Complex's event guide confirmed the drop. What it does not tell us is which pieces were actually sold, what they cost or whether the collection will come online. As of October 6, I have not found a single report that shows the clothes. I will update this post as soon as they surface. The story behind the brand is reason enough to write about it now.
Power's Idea: An Artist-Owned Brand Before That Was a Thing
Long before rappers signed sneaker deals and capsule collections with global sportswear companies, Wu-Tang owned its own clothing line. Power, a childhood friend of RZA and the executive producer behind the Clan's albums, started Wu Wear in 1995 with about $1,000. Then came a flagship store on Victory Boulevard in Staten Island, followed by shops in Philadelphia, Norfolk and Atlanta.
The numbers got serious fast. Complex puts gross sales at $10.8 million for 1997, and the line was carried by Macy's, Dr. Jay's and Hot Topic. The range went far beyond logo tees: velour sweaters, printed button-downs, leather jackets, varsity jackets with the Wu globe, mesh jerseys, even perfume and jewelry. The Wu Wear "W" on a hoodie was not merch from a tour stand. It was a brand people bought in the mall whether or not they had a ticket to the show.
The Clan also rapped about it. "Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance", RZA with Method Man and Cappadonna, appeared on the High School High soundtrack in 1996 and reached No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100. A song as an ad for your own clothing line. That move tells you a lot about how the Wu thought about business from the start: control the music, the logo and the product, and keep the money in the family.
The Fall and the First Comeback
By 2008 the major retailers had dropped the line. Counterfeits were everywhere, and Power rebranded the label as "Wu-Tang Brand". In 2017 he and RZA tried a relaunch through Live Nation Merchandise, with Power working as a historic creative consultant on the classic designs. That revival faded out after a few years.
Power died on February 24, 2026, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The Clan called him "a visionary force, a pillar of the Wu-Tang family, and a global architect of culture." Anyone who grew up with Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and the yellow W knows how much of that culture was visual. The look of the Clan was never an afterthought, and a big part of it came from him.
Why the ComplexCon Return Matters
ComplexCon came to Los Angeles for its tenth anniversary, with Playboi Carti and Hiroshi Fujiwara as co-artistic directors, and Ken Carson and Carti headlining the concerts at Crypto.com Arena. That is a very different generation from the one that wore Wu Wear in Staten Island. Putting the brand into that room is a test: does a nineties East Coast label still mean something to kids who discovered streetwear through Opium and hype drops? The fact that the weekend coverage barely mentioned it is an answer of sorts, at least for this crowd.
I still think it can work, but not on the logo alone. The strongest version of this comeback is not the W slapped on blanks. It is clothes with their own character, cuts, fabrics and details that give you a reason to wear them even if you never heard Protect Ya Neck. And it is a brand that reminds people Wu-Tang ran the artist-owned model three decades before it became the standard pitch deck.
That idea is very much alive right now. Just last month, J. Cole dropped his Dreamer Indie 5000 in Fayetteville, a sneaker he built independently, without a big sportswear brand behind it. Clothing and footwear are different businesses, but creative ownership is what connects both stories. Wu Wear did that in 1995.
For me, this one also closes a loop. I have spent a lot of time with the Clan on this blog, from my Too Many Chambers remix mixtape to the Wu-Tang x Knicks idea. Seeing the W back on clothes, built on what Power started, feels right. Now show me the clothes.
){kind=link}