Obey (clothing)  Obey Clothing (stylized as OBEY) is a popular clothing producing company founded in 2001 by street artist and illustrator Shepard Fairey as an extension to his work in activism. It expropriates a theme from the film They Live. Fairey inherited one of his most popular slogans from Canadian intellectual Marshall McLuhan. “The medium is the message”. The brand is well known for incorporating politically and socially provocative propaganda into the designs of their clothing and its founder describes this as manufacturing dissent. Obey Men's is designed by Mike Ternosky and Obey Women's is designed by Grace Lee.