Marty Supreme – Merch and Brand Power

If you’ve seen the buzz around Marty Supreme – the upcoming film starring Timothée Chalamet, you may also have noticed something else: the merch.

Jackets, jumpers and other pieces linked to the film are already being worn by high-profile names, well before release. It feels less like traditional movie merchandise and more like a fully formed brand – and that’s no accident.

Merch Isn’t an Afterthought Anymore

Merchandising used to mean posters, mugs and the occasional T-shirt. Today, it’s often treated as a standalone brand exercise, designed to live in the real world long after the credits roll.

With Marty Supreme, the merchandise doesn’t just promote the film – it builds a visual identity that people want to wear regardless of whether they’ve seen it yet and a potentially lucrative extra income stream.

How Unregistered and Registered Trade marks Make This Possible

For merch to work at this level, the name, logos and visual elements connected to the film need to be protected.

Registered Trade Marks

The best way to achieve protection is via registered trade marks, often across multiple goods and service classes. That would allow the rights holder to:

• Control how the Marty Supreme name and branding are used
• License the brand for clothing and accessories
• Collaborate with designers or manufacturers
• Ensure the quality and “feel” of the products stays on-brand
• Monetise the brand without producing everything in-house

Trade marks can turn a film title into an easily licensable commercial asset.

Unregistered Trade Marks

Alternatively, brand owners may seek to rely on unregistered trade mark rights in a similar way, namely the goodwill subsisting in their brand and enforceable under the law of passing off.

At the date of writing, this appears to be the position in relation to Marty Supreme. We have been unable to identify any registered trade marks covering the brand, which is unusual for a venture of this profile. This may, however, be a deliberate strategy, potentially adopted to avoid conflict with earlier registered trade marks that share overlapping elements, such as Supreme in the streetwear sector.

By launching the Marty Supreme brand at pace and achieving significant public exposure for the merch, the rights holders appear to have generated substantial goodwill in the name and in relation to clothing (before the film has even been released). That goodwill is capable of protection under the law of passing off: reputation or goodwill in the mark. While unregistered rights are more difficult to assert and more fact-sensitive than registered trade mark rights, they can nonetheless be commercially valuable, particularly for well-known or high-profile brands, and are capable of enforcement and licensing.

Earlier registered trade mark proprietors can still object to the use of Marty Supreme. However, the Marty Supreme brand owners appear to have accepted that risk. To date, that approach appears to have been successful: the Marty Supreme brand has rapidly established itself as a distinct brand, and there is currently no obvious evidence that the public has been misled into believing that it is connected in some way with pre-existing brands such as Supreme (passing off) or that the public have or are likely to confuse the mark with prior trade marks (trade mark infringement). On the contrary, the speed and scale of its recognition suggest that Marty Supreme is increasingly perceived as a brand in its own right. By not applying for trade marks, the brand owners might have gone undetected by prior rights holders, up until now. Marty Supreme is now well established and therefore a less attractive target to those wishing to pick a fight.

However, relying on unregistered rights alone is high risk, especially for new brands without a high profile. We therefore recommend you always consider registering trade marks – a lawyer can carry out trade mark searches prior to filing and advise you on the best strategy ahead for your brand.

Thinking Beyond the Screen

What’s particularly interesting here is how the brand is being positioned outside the traditional film industry. The merch isn’t just tied to cinema release dates – it’s designed to stand on its own in fashion and culture.

That only works if the brand strategy isn’t limited to “entertainment services” alone. Protecting a brand like this usually means thinking ahead to:

• Apparel and accessories
• Lifestyle products
• Collaborations and pop-ups
• Limited editions and drops

If trade mark registrations and use of the brand in relation to an array of goods and services isn’t actioned early, opportunities can be delayed or lost entirely.

A Useful Lesson for Growing Brands

You don’t need to be releasing a feature film to learn from this approach. We see the same principles apply to:

• Creators turning a project into a brand
• Start-ups launching merch alongside a core offering
• Artists, studios or events expanding into physical products
• Businesses that want their name to travel across industries

The key is recognising when something has brand potential and protecting it before the demand shows up. This is best done through trade mark registrations and sometimes by getting out there quickly and using the mark – developing goodwill and unregistered rights over the goods and services you intend to offer. Thereafter, enforcing those rights against others and exploiting the same through licensing arrangements.

Marty Supreme is a great example of how a project can move seamlessly from screen to street. Because the smartest brand question isn’t just what are we launching now? It’s where could this go next and have we protected it to get there?