Here's Every Clothing Brand Supreme Has Collaborated With
Collaborations have been a longstanding staple within the streetwear industry. A decent, well thought-out collaboration will fuse the strongest elements of all parties concerned, resulting in a project that's both a meeting of minds and a mutual respect for one another.
The streetwear scene may have been born in the ‘80s and nurtured in the ‘90s, but it really blew up in the ‘00s. A lot of streetwear’s success was down to small independent brands collaborating, not only with each other, but also with larger mainstream brands. These partnerships exposed streetwear brands to much larger audiences and, during this period, new collaborations were seemingly announced on a daily basis.
Over the past 23 years the undisputed kings of the collaboration, Supreme, have chosen to work with a huge variety of partners that include skate brands, footwear brands, artists, musicians, tech brands, photographers, film makers, sporting goods manufactures, toy companies, furniture makers and even a motorcycle brand. Many of these collaborations have come as a huge surprise to Supreme's newer customer base, but each one was has a genuine link to the tight-knit crew behind the New York label.
Having previously presented some of Supreme's most obscure collabs, and their full history with the Swoosh, I thought I’d take a look through the myriad clothing brands Supreme has collaborated with.
Note that this is just clothing brands — so that means no footwear or clothing projects with artists, photographers, sports teams, skate companies, fast food restaurants or any of the other varied brands that Supreme has linked with over the past 23 years. Think something's missing? Let us know in the comments.
1998: Sarcastic
Sarcastic Clothing was founded in L.A. in 1996 but really found its niche within the Japanese street fashion movement, leading to the opening of their Harajuku flagship store in 1999.
Supreme’s one and only collaboration with Sarcastic came back in ’98, with a single graphic T-shirt depicting the Puerto Rico flag across the chest and a Sarcastic crown logo tag on the bottom hem. The finishing touch was the small back print featuring the Sarcastic logo revised in Supreme’s Futura Bold Italic font and red box with the phrase “East Meets West,” to symbolise the two brands opposing coasts.
1999: GOODENOUGH
There’s not many people in streetwear culture as influential as Hiroshi Fujiwara — he's constantly experimented with branding, retail, media, music and art for the past 27 years. Long before he was working with LV as ‘fragment design’, Levi’s as ‘Fenom’ and Nike under the ‘HTM’ project, Fujiwara’s first brand was founded in 1990 and named GOODENOUGH.
Taking cues from surf, skate, BMX and hip-hop culture, GDEH quickly hit home with their limited drops and set the blueprint for the streetwear market as we now know it. Both Nigo and Jun Takahashi worked for Hiroshi at GDEH before he inspired them to go out and found their own brands — A Bathing APE and UNDERCOVER respectively.
In 1999 Supreme teamed up with GDEH for a simple collaborative T-shirt. The pocket tee featured a back print combining the names of both brands, and was available in both long and short-sleeve versions. Slight variations on this shirt have reappeared, in limited quantities, in both 2001 and 2007.
Supreme would go on to work with Hiroshi’s fragment design brand on a collaborative bike chain in 2007, and an unreleased dual branded sneaker with Nike in 2011.
1999: SSUR-Plus
The relationship between SSUR-Plus and Supreme dates back to the early days, when Russ Karablin was one of the downtown crew’s original graphic designers.
During his time at Supreme, Ukrainian-born Karablin ran his own sideline project ‘SSUR’ (“Russ” spelt backwards) which eventually became his main focus, with a standalone store around the block on Mulberry Street.
The small Supreme x SSUR collection consisted of three graphic tees – the “Top of the World” design, which featured James Cagney’s climactic scene from the 1949 film noir movie White Heat (available in both short sleeve and long sleeve), the "King Kong" graphic depicting a scene from the 1976 remake, plus the “Kid’s Ain’t Playing Over Here” tee that included SSUPREME branding in honor of both brands.
2001: W)TAPS
Supreme’s popularity in Japan was strengthened in 2001 with their first collaboration with Tetsu Nishiyama’s label W)TAPS. The initial hook up was on a simple “Superman” t-shirt with Supreme’s logo rebranded to mimic that of the Man of Steel himself. Dual branding was prevalent with a small W)Taps logo on the back centre of the shirt.
The duo would once again team up six years later for the “Metal Militia” collection — a Spring 2007 military-inspired capsule consisting of an M-65 jacket, military jacket, bucket hat, cargo pants, shorts, camouflage top and three graphic tees.
For their third W)TAPS collab, in December 2009, the vibe switched from army life to college life, with a varsity inspired collection of t-shirts, reversible melton wool jackets and pillows.
2001: Union NYC
This one's technically a store, but it's a nice story and Union has produced clothing from time to time, so I thought I'd include it anyway. Before opening Supreme on Lafayette St in ’94 and the Stussy Chapter Store on Prince St in ’91, James Jebbia (along with his then-partner Mary Ann Fusco) opened his first retail space in New York’s Soho neighbourhood. The multi-brand retailer Union opened it’s doors at 172 Spring St in 1989 and focused mainly on clothing brands from the UK, Europe and Japan.
In 2001 James brought his two stores together for a t-shirt collab. The shirt featured an image of two guys shaking hands with the slogan “Double Trouble” to signify the two downtown heavyweights joining forces. A small Union jumpman positioned above Supreme’s own box logo appeared on the reverse.
Union NYC’s store manager Chris Gibbs eventually departed the East Coast for the sunshine state and still holds down the Union LA store as part of Eddie Cruz’s La Brea strip, which includes Undefeated and the Stussy Los Angeles Chapter Store. After closing for a refit in 2006, Union celebrated their reopening with a commemorative t-shirt featuring a bold statement “Return of the Mecca” across the chest. The back print featured the store’s relaunch date (3-29-06) alongside logos of the brand’s who supported their journey - Supreme x Neighborhood x Wtaps x Stussy x SSUR x aNYthing x J.Money.
Union NYC sadly closed it’s doors in July 2009 making way for a new Stussy Chapter Store.
2002: A Bathing Ape
Much like Supreme, the Japanese brand founded by Nigo in 1993 had a slow, steady rise to popularity. It’s ascension was built up by a cult following, initially round the streets of Tokyo’s Harajuku neighbourhood, and then through a handful of small influential boutiques such as London’s Hit & Run, Recon in downtown New York and colette in Paris.
Although Supreme was more of a straight-up skate store at the time, and BAPE was fully focused as a fashion/lifestyle company, that didn’t stop the two labels having a huge crossover appeal and sharing a similar customer demographic throughout the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. During this era both brands were pretty hard to get hold of, not widely written about, and unavailable online, so appealed to the Japanese Otaku culture and Western “cool-kids” looking for something a little different.
Although Supreme and A Bathing Ape have gone on to take widely different paths since, a collaboration back in 2002 seemed to make perfect sense. The project was simple - take the iconic Supreme box logo and wrap it in a full range of bespoke BAPE camouflage patterns. The simple white Supreme tee came in a variety of 15 different prints and also featured the stitched Ape Head sleeve tag which was also standard on BAPE’s own tees.
2005: John Smedley
One of the more low key clothing collaborations was Supreme’s small run of lightweight Sea Island Cotton long- and short-sleeved polo shirts with 200-year-old British knitwear company John Smedley.
The two-button polos were void of any branding, with the exception of the “John Smedley for Supreme” logo on the inside label, and remain a stylish low-key choice among real Supreme connoisseurs.
2006: NEIGHBORHOOD
Shinsuke Takizawa’s motorcycle-influenced brand was started in Japan back in 1994, the same founding year as Supreme. The two brands have always shared a mutual admiration for each other — they actually share a building in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, which houses both their stores (Supreme is upstairs, NEIGHBORHOOD is on the ground floor).
It took the two labels 12 years to finally come together on an actual clothing collaboration and in late December 2006 Supreme released their debut collection with NEIGHBORHOOD. The small range consisted of a NY/Tokyo satin baseball jacket (2 colours), selvedge denim jeans (2 colours), a New Era fitted hat (4 colours), and dual branded t-shirt (3 colours).
A year later, a second collection was released, including an M-65 Jacket (only available in black), Stadium Jacket (3 colours), selvedge denim (2 colours), full-zip hoodie (3 colours), a New Era fitted hat (3 colours), 2 graphic t-shirts (collab logo and Larry Clark photo tee) and the “Troops of Tomorrow” Vans Sk8-Hi / Chukkas.
While the t-shirts from these two projects were printed on Supreme tees, the two brands have also teamed up on NEIGHBORHOOD garments to celebrate a couple of their anniversaries. The first of these was made to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the NEIGHBORHOOD Harajuku store (1997-2007) and featured a slightly oversized Supreme box logo (only available in black).
The follow up two years later was to mark the fifteen year anniversary of the brand itself and depicted a bat graphic across the chest and the two brands logos across the shoulders (available in both white and black).
2006: UNDERCOVER
Although founded four years prior, it wasn’t until Supreme’s inception year of 1994 that Jun Takahashi presented his first collection as UNDERCOVER during Tokyo fashion week.
On 23rd December 2006 Supreme joined forces with UNDERCOVER and Silly Thing to release a special t-shirt, launching the Hong Kong art show ‘Silly Thing: Event Horizon – The Retro Journey of the Spraycan Wizard’. Printed on a Silly Thing shirt, the front and back print featured the unmistakeable artwork of street artist Futura alongside the logos from all three brands involved.
Almost a decade later, for their Spring 15 season, Supreme and UNDERCOVER worked together again to present a collection based around the phrase “Anarchy is the Key”. Accompanied by a shoot starring Jason Dill, the range consisted of a trench coat, Schott Perfecto leather biker jacket, a hoodie/shorts sweatsuit, hooded flannel shirt, crewneck sweat, punk-inspired bondage pants, mesh cap, four graphic tees and a bear-shaped cushion.
A second anarchy-themed UNDERCOVER collaboration was released in September 2016 to a feverous reaction. The large collection featured a reversible MA-1 jacket, coat jacket, wool overcoat, cashmere blend sweater, work pants, hoodie, zip-up sweat, sweatpants, l/s tee, graphic tees, coin pouch, Dr. Martens boot/shoe and a cool version of Medicom’s Gilapple light.
The Supreme/UNDERCOVER collab continues to be a season highlight for many.
2006: aNYthing
Aaron “A-Ron The Downtown Don” Bondaroff was one of the most infamous store workers in Supreme’s early days with his frosty demeanour and seeming lack of interest in any form of customer service. He was, however, an integral part of the business and became an important part of Supreme's growth from store to brand.
In 2006 A-Ron’s own brand aNYthing (“A New York Thing”) opened the doors of their small boutique in New York’s Chinatown district. To promote the launch he hooked up with his old crew at Supreme for a t-shirt remixing the old Licensed To Ill-era Beastie Boys logo.
A couple of years later, Bondaroff had set up a new company called “Off Bowery” and launched an art exhibition in Paris to showcase his new project. Supreme were once again on-hand to help him out with a “Sex and Violence” t-shirt that was only available in the city’s colette store on September 29th 2008.
2007: FILA
Their first and only collection with the retro Italian sportswear brand FILA, Supreme worked on a vintage-flavored capsule that included a set of headbands/wristbands, a short sleeve polo and a Gucci-inspired track jacket, featuring “World Famous Supreme Team” branding across the back.
The collab could be seen as a subtle tribute to Jersey’s favorite family – the Sopranos, who regularly wore FILA tracksuits – or perhaps a nod to the fashion choices of late ’80s MCs like Schoolly D and the Beastie Boys’ Mike D.
2007: Futura Laboratories
New York graffiti artist Futura has been a long standing figure in Supreme’s timeline, having produced multiple designs for the brand (some of which remain anonymous) since the early days.
The first official collaboration between Supreme and Futura’s clothing label Futura Laboratories was released on 2nd January 2007 and was a three-way partnership between FL, Supreme and Silly Thing from Hong Kong. The box logo t-shirt featured Futura’s hand-scripted Supreme logo on the front, with a paint splatter image and FL/Silly Thing logos on the back. The shirt was exclusive to the Silly Thing store in Hong Kong and only available in black/black and white/black variations.
2007: Nike
Supreme and the Swoosh may have been bedfellows since 2002 but for the initial five years of the partnership, any apparel to accompany the sneaker collaborations were produced solely by Supreme themselves. This all changed in November 2007 when Supreme announced their Air Trainer 2 SB sneaker collection that included a matching Nike SB x Supreme baseball jacket. The heavyweight ‘80s-style Melton Wool jacket was produced by the Oregon sports brand and featured oversized Nike branding on the front and rear with the slogan ‘NYC SUPREME’ embroidered on the lower section of the back.
Nike clothing collaborations continued sporadically over the years and included the ‘World Famous’ twill pullover jackets released with the Bruins (09), baroque all-over print basketball jersey and shorts to match the Foamposites (2014) and the Air Max 98 matching Dri-FIT running hat (2016).
2007: The North Face
The North Face have long been the staple outerwear choice to combat the harsh New York winter season, so when Supreme looked to improve their jacket range, the San Francisco technical mountaineering apparel brand were a natural choice.
March 2007 saw the inaugural capsule from what has gone on to be one of, if not the, most popular of Supreme's regular collaborations. The North Face x Supreme Summit Series jacket was available in two classic ‘90s “snow beach” colorways complete with leopard print lining.
The series has gone on to showcase a whole range of TNF outerwear including the Nuptse, Denali, Expedition Pullover, Mountain Jacket, Windbreaker Pullover, Venture, Dot Shot, Steep Tech, Trans Antarctica and Fleece jackets as well as backpacks, rolling luggage, duffle bags, headwear, sweatshirts, t-shirts, trousers, slippers, gloves and sleeping bags.
2008: visvim
The Japanese influence on Supreme’s success should never be underestimated and they’ve regularly collaborated with the finest brands born from the Ura-Harajuku scene over the years.
When it came to working with Hiroki Nakamura’s high-end clothing/footwear brand visvim, Supreme chose a small collection of high-ticket items for their December 08 capsule. A visvim Gore-Tex Tradesman jacket, Supreme/visvim camp cap, cashmere beanie and Serra Ascent walking boot were all produced exclusively for Supreme. A follow up collaboration has long-been requested by fans, but so far to no avail.
2008: OriginalFake
Having previously worked with KAWS on a couple of skateboards in 2001, then again in 2002 on a simple rendition of the box logo t-shirt (which was reprinted again on tees, hoodies and skate decks in 2011), Supreme went on to work with the Brooklyn artist also know as Brian Donnelly via his clothing brand OriginalFake.
In the Spring of 2008 Supreme marked the 10th anniversary of their first Japanese store in Daikanyama, while across town the OriginalFake store in Tokyo’s Aoyama neighbourhood celebrated their 2nd anniversary.
To commemorate both milestones for the retailers, the two brands collaborated on a special edition t-shirt. Taking the basis of Supreme’s own New York store 10th anniversary t-shirt from 2004, the design was reworked to include the OF “Bendy” character wrapped around British model Kate Moss. The white t-shirt was available with different colour accents for the two stores, with yellow for Supreme Daikanyama and red for OriginalFake Aoyama.
The collaborative t-shirt was a fitting tribute to both brands' early years — both Supreme and KAWS vandalized Calvin Klein advertising campaigns around the streets of Manhattan in the mid ’90s.
Supreme once again worked with OriginalFake on a Supreme logo tee (only available in black and white) in July 2011 before KAWS decided to shut down the brand in 2013.
2009: Hanes
The idea for the simple Hanes undershirt collaboration came because the majority of the staff at the NY store wore the Ralph Lauren equivalent as a staple layering piece. With a tiny box logo replacing the Polo pony, Supreme initially released a three pack of classic Hanes undershirt crewnecks and tank tops, (both in white) for the late summer of 2009.
The collaboration is now firmly a regular fixture and has increased to include undershirt tees in black, grey (two variations), a thermal long sleeve, boxer shorts and socks.
2009: A.P.C.
Supreme’s James Jebbia and A.P.C.’s Jean Touitou have a long-standing mutual respect for one another. The French ready-to-wear brand opened their first NY store in 1993 on Mercer Street, just round the corner from the old Stussy store on Prince Street, which James Jebbia ran back in the day.
A.P.C.’s minimalist designs and quality denim was an ideal fit for Supreme, and in October 2009 the two brands presented a reworking of the classic New Standard denim jean. Supreme’s confrontational “Fuck Em!” logo was embroidered on the back pocket and also replaced the standard A.P.C. logo on the removable belt loop pin. A graphic t-shirt was also produced in two colours with the red print exclusive to Supreme stores and the black version an A.P.C. store exclusive.
2010: Thom Browne
New York’s Thom Browne may have made his mark through cropped pants and his signature grosgrain trim, but he certainly kept things simple with this collaboration: an exclusive chambray button-down shirt produced in three classic colors.
2010: Champion
In their early days as a single-door skate store, Supreme would often print/embroider their logos onto Champion blanks as these were relatively inexpensive, easy to acquire in the States and excellent quality. It wasn’t until March 2010 that they made things official with the Rochester, New York sports brand. The Supreme x Champion coaches jacket featured the small “C” cuff logo with a large Supreme arch logo across the back and was available in a choice of five colors. A hooded version was released the following season in four color options.
Notable items in the ongoing partnership include the Supreme x Champion sweatshirts featuring the large “C” chest branding and all-over Champion monogram/star prints which have both since gone on to become a staple in Champion’s own ‘Reverse Weave’ line.
2010: Stussy
Without Shawn Stussy there would be no Supreme, simple as that. Shawn was a huge influence on James Jebbia, and the two partners opened the original Stussy NYC store together back in 1991.
Stussy pretty much wrote the book when it comes to the whole skate/fashion crossover scene, so when it came to celebrating the brand's 30th anniversary they looked to work with a selection of brands that have felt their influence including Bounty Hunter, NEIGHBORHOOD, Masterpiece, HUF and Undefeated.
The “XXX” collection also featured a collaboration with Supreme, who delved back into the Stussy archives for the old “Skate Tough” logo from the ’80s. This limited edition shirt was sold exclusively to Stussy Chapter stores and wasn’t made available to purchase from Supreme.
2011: Adam Kimmel
What happens when a skate-rat needs to sharpen up for a wedding or a court hearing? A suit is always a handy go-to for special occasions, so Supreme worked with fellow New Yorker Adam Kimmel on a youthful Italian cotton twill two-piece suit in navy and black (Spring 11) and a corduroy version in dark navy and dark green (Fall 11).
The collaboration took a slightly different path for Fall 2012, with a cotton twill jumpsuit - perfect for those mechanics/tradesmen looking to stunt hard while working!
2011: Levi’s
Having bitten their iconic red tab logo for many years on a range of pocket tees, jackets and accessories, it seemed fitting that Supreme actually worked with the American denim institution that is Levi Strauss & Co. This opportunity finally arose in September 2011 with their debut collection consisting of Supreme’s own take on the 505 zip-fly jean, a Chambray work shirt, denim down vest, denim bell hat and an incredible trucker jacket available in both camel suede and black leather.
Supreme’s ongoing project with Levi’s has continued on a seasonal basis and has featured both subtle and outlandish takes of the SF denim brand, including leopard-lined jackets, denim vests, all-over floral/zebra/treebark camo prints, white denim, Western shirts, overalls, hats and belts. All products are made in the USA exclusively for Supreme.
2011: Liberty of London
Liberty, London’s prestigious department store and producer of luxury goods, has been trading since 1875 and is renowned worldwide for it’s extensive collection of unique art fabrics.
For their S/S11 collection, Supreme collaborated with Liberty on two button down shirts which utilized an all-over floral pattern from the London brand’s archives. The unlikely partners have also gone on to release a range of accessories including camp caps, 6-panel hats, New Era fitted hats and trooper hats all draped in a variety of the heritage brand’s prints.
2011: Schott NYC
Supreme have produced a few of their own leather jackets over the years but it wasn’t until 2011 that they stepped up a gear to work with New York’s own Schott Bros.
Kicking off with arguably the brands most iconic piece — the Perfecto Jacket — Supreme took the classic biker jacket and stripped it of it’s extras, such as the front belt and shoulder epaulettes, for a clean and timeless look. The custom fit was also complimented by a Blackwatch Tartan lining and a detachable “Fuck ‘Em” pin similar to that on their 2009 collaboration with A.P.C.
A Schott NYC collaboration has been a regular fixture, in each of Supreme’s seasonal ranges ever since, with the partnership offering up a variety of quality outerwear including peacoats, A-2 jackets, bomber jackets, sheepskin coats, MA-1 jackets, work jackets, shearling coats, flight jackets and biker vests.
2012: Comme des Garçons SHIRT
One of the most sought-after of all the regular Supreme clothing collaborations is their infrequent hook-up with Red Kawakubo’s diffusion line, Comme des Garçons SHIRT.
For Spring 2009 (three years prior to their first CDGS collaboration, and two years before Supreme’s first European store opened) Comme’s retail outlet, Dover Street Market, was selected to join only a handful of stores as an official Supreme stockist with their small shop-in-shop within the Central London store basement, so it was only a matter of time before the two brands officially worked together.
Considered at the time as a high-end streetwear alternative, many presumed CDG’s entry level brand “PLAY” would be ideal to host the collaboration but it was in fact, the Comme des Garçons SHIRT line that was unveiled as a partner for the New Yorkers in March 2012.
The debut collection included a camp cap, button down shirt and two styles of Vans sneakers - all adorned in Comme’s signature shirting fabric. By far the most desired items from the collection, however, were the pullover hoodie and t-shirt, both of which saw Supreme’s iconic Box Logo flipped in reverse over a CDG polka dot pattern. Five years on, these items remain modern classics and are still some of Supreme’s most sought-after products.
The CDGS collaboration continued with the digi-camo/dots collection in 2013, the Harold Hunter/pinstripe collection in 2014, the tartan collection in 2015 and this year's much hyped eyeball/crumpled Box Logo collection.
All the Supreme x Comme des Garçons SHIRT collections were simultaneously sold at both Supreme and Dover Street Market’s physical and online stores worldwide. In addition to their continuing CDGS collaboration, Supreme have also worked with DSM on various graphic t-shirts to celebrate anniversaries of both the New York and Ginza stores.
2014: Brooks Brothers
Much like their project with Adam Kimmel three years prior, a Supreme x Brooks Brothers collaboration was an unlikely announcement to fans of both brands. Once again working with a New York-based tailor, Supreme produced their own custom fit take on the classic Brooks Brothers seersucker suit. The slim fit, pin-stripe Fitzgerald two-piece featured Supreme’s star pattern on the inside lining and was accompanied by a matching bucket hat.
2014: Stone Island
Stone Island was founded in 1982 by the late Massimo Osti, as a subsidiary to his functional outerwear brand C.P. Company. Stone Island went on to define “luxury sportswear” in the ’80s and ’90s and became a huge success in Europe with the iconic compass badge becoming a status symbol in the U.K. for ravers, drug dealers and football hooligans. Some of these negative connotations resulted in a lull from the public eye for several years (many bars/clubs refused entry to anyone wearing the badge for a while) but Stone Island remained a cult favourite nonetheless.
With a resurgence in urban tech outerwear gaining popularity on the streets of London, Supreme hit perfect timing in October 2014, with their first collection alongside the Italian brand.
It was this Supreme collection and Drake’s new-found love of Stone Island’s casual wear (he’s rarely seen without it and even received a $100K diamond-encrusted compass logo chain from Ben Baller) which helped finally break through the American barrier for “Stoney”, although the US still only amounts to a mere 5% of the Italian brand’s global sales.
The first Supreme x Stone Island capsule impressively launched with a new take on the classic C.P. Company goggle jacket, originally produced in 1988 for the Mille Miglia car race. The "Nero" jacket featured Stone Island’s signature Raso Gommato covering and a removable down liner. Supreme branding was kept to a minimum and restricted to just the back of the lining and the inside neck label. Accompanying the excellent Nero jackets were crewneck/hooded sweatshirts, sweatpants and a camp cap – all featuring more prevalent Supreme branding throughout.
The following season, SS15, saw Supreme work with Stone Island on a small collection consisting of a nylon metal 5C anorak and 6-panel hat both draped in a water-resistant iridescent fabric. The product offering was increased in 2016 with a heat-reactive trench coat, track jacket/pants, sweater, l/s top, 6-panel cap, crusher hat and PVC duffle bag.
2016: Jordan Brand
One of the most high profile collaborations in Supreme’s 23 year timeline has to be when they worked with one of the most legendary names in sports history.
To accompany the feverishly anticipated collection of Air Jordan V sneakers, Supreme worked with Jordan Brand on an accompanying range of apparel. Remixing the classic Jumpman logo to replace ‘Jordan’ with ‘Supreme’, the collection consisted of a t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, hooded varsity jacket, coach jacket, sweatpants and snapback hat all produced by Nike/Jordan Brand.
The clothing collection was released a week after the sneakers and was complimented by a Terry Richardson shot portrait of Michael Jordan himself donning the Supreme branded t-shirt - respect indeed!
2016: Aquascutum
Founded in Regent Street in 1851 by John Emary, London tailors Aquascutum produced the first-ever waterproof wool and went on to make trench coats for soldiers in both World Wars.
Despite the British royal family’s seal of approval, Aquascutum have had a financially checkered (excuse the pun) past, and the company eventually went into bankruptcy administration in 2012.
Purchased by a British owner in 2013, and riding on the crest of their rival Burberry’s recent return to mass popularity, things are looking brighter for the British label and their infamous Club Check pattern.
For Fall 16 Supreme joined forces with Aquascutum to rework some of their most iconic pieces — the Filey raincoat, club jacket, long sleeve polo shirt and wool/cashmere scarf, alongside a utility vest.
2016: Sasquatchfabrix
Another surprise came in Supreme’s SS16 collection in the form of a collaboration with Tokyo designer Daisuke Yokoyama and his label Sasquatchfabrix.
The collection was heavily influenced by traditional Japanese clothing and included a Hanten coat and shirt, printed chino pants, Hakama shorts, graphic tees, crusher hat, a slip-on shoe and even a folding fan.
This collaboration felt like a respectful nod towards the history of their Japanese demographic and yet another unusual twist in Supreme’s output.
2016: Timberland
Supreme’s history with Timberland goes way back to 2006, but it wasn’t until a decade later in December 2016, that they produced any apparel alongside their footwear offerings.
The small collection featured just a Timberland x Supreme branded hooded sweatshirt and beanie, both available in five colour options.
2017: Lacoste
Having been rumored for several years, this season finally saw the arrival of a collaboration between Supreme and French tennis apparel brand Lacoste.
With an extensive collection featuring an excellent pastel Harrington jacket, a tennis sweater, pique crewneck and shorts, l/s polo shirt, camp cap and a two-tone ’90s-style track suit, the range felt like a suitable nostalgic tribute to the retro sports brand.
2017: Vanson Leathers
This season Supreme released one of its most expensive retail items of clothing to date — a heavyweight cowhide racing jacket in collaboration with Vanson Leathers.
The collarless motorcycle jacket was custom-made especially for Supreme and featured all-over branding as you’d expect to see on the race track. Despite a price tag of over $1000 the jacket sold out instantly, in the black, white and blue colorways, on day of release.
2017: Louis Vuitton
Bringing this feature up to date, we end with the upcoming collaboration between New York’s Supreme and the French fashion house Louis Vuitton. Having been unveiled on the catwalk, during Paris Fashion Week in January, the partnership between the downtown skate rats and the traditional luxury brand has created more interest, controversy and column inches than anything from Supreme’s output to date.
Having been faced with a ‘cease and desist’ order over their monogram decks and tees, it took former Gimme 5 employee, and now LV’s menswear artistic director, Kim Jones to bring the brands together seventeen years later for his FW17 New York-inspired collection.
Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny the audacious project in blurring the lines between high fashion and streetwear. The sheer scale of the collection is as impressive as it is daunting to the wallets of most Supreme fans. With LV produced products and LV pricing it will be interesting to see how the collection will be received with the Supreme community when released later this summer. One thing’s for sure, it certainly has taken Supreme to another level with regards to their clothing collaborations.
Now check out the story behind every Supreme celebrity tee (NSFW).
