Which came first, the chicken (ixi:z by Platinum) or the egg (Parafernalia)? On Platinum’s old company history page, they had a timeline that said their collaborations with fashion label ixi:z began in 1981:
And then, we have Parafernalia’s own defunct website saying that their Helite and Graphic designs hailed from 1979:
So, pretty clear that Parafernalia was the original for several iconic designs that were adopted by Platinum and perhaps improved upon mechanically before being rebadged for [ixi:z]?
But hold up! Platinum’s own published catalogs say that these fashion collabs started in 1978! Which precedes the known date for Parafernalia’s designs. Ugh haha! What a messed up timeline…
All I’m certain of? [ixi:z] was the coolest label for the well heeled kids in my teenage years and through most of the 1980s, everyone wanted to own a piece of it. The clothes would go out of fashion… the rubberized wallets would fall apart… but the iconic logo in brackets, the preppy Japlish slogan ‘INDIVIDUALLY BASIC’, and the writing instruments seem to have outlived everything else.
