One week it’s holy water in sneakers. The next, it’s a handbag smaller than a grain of salt. For almost a decade, Brooklyn-based art collective Mschf has confounded, provoked and delighted industries from fashion to fine art with a string of unpredictable, culture-hacking interventions. Now, the group is channelling that same irreverent energy into Applied Mschf, a newly launched creative agency designed to help others harness — rather than fall victim to — their brand of cultural mischief.
Founded in 2016 by CEO Gabriel Whaley, with co-chief creative officers Lukas Bentel and Kevin Wiesner, alongside COO Stephen Tetreault, the art collective has become a bona fide business. By 2020 it had raised around $11.5 million in investor funding, and although the company doesn’t disclose financials, it reports annual revenue growth of 100 per cent since 2019, powered largely by its now-signature product “drops”.
Mschf has generated headlines — and cash — with stunts like the Jesus Shoes, aka Nike Air Max 97s filled with water from the River Jordan that sold for over $1,400 a pair and sold out within minutes. Their follow-up, the Satan Shoes, went further: 666 pairs priced at $1,018 each, which sold out instantly and generated close to $700,000 in revenue before sparking a lawsuit from Nike.
The Birkinstocks — sandals handmade from dismantled Hermès Birkin bags — were priced between $34,000 and $76,000. A Damien Hirst spot print was cut apart and sold dot by dot at $480 each, while the remaining blank sheet fetched $261,400. A microscopic handbag with the Louis Vuitton logo (but with no association to the brand) went for over $63,000 at auction, and the malware-infected laptop The Persistence of Chaos sold for $1.3 million, drawing more than a million viewers on Twitch.
Mschf’s Big Red Boots, released at $350 a pair, received more than 100,000 orders on day one and almost immediately sold out. On the resale market, pairs initially peaked near $1,400 before stabilising around the $300 to $400 mark. The boots were quickly spotted on the likes of Lil Wayne, Doja Cat, basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and WWE’s Seth Rollins, cementing them as one of fashion’s most viral products of 2023.
Depending on who you ask, Mschf is a streetwear brand, a performance art collective, a startup or even the new face of luxury. Co-founder Wiesner isn’t interested in correcting them. “Every time that question is posed, ‘What do you think Mschf is?’ people’s response is more a reflection of themselves than of us,” he says.
