Supreme
ESTABLISHED
1994
HQ
New York
WHO FOUNDED SUPREME AND WHERE WAS IT FOUNDED?
Supreme was founded by James Jebbia in New York City in 1994.
WHAT WAS SUPREME'S INITIAL FOCUS WHEN IT FIRST OPENED?
Supreme's initial focus was on skateboarding, as it started out as a skateboarding shop in downtown Manhattan.
WHAT IS THE DESIGN OF SUPREME'S LOGO?
Supreme's logo features the word "SUPREME" in bold letters with a white background and red rectangle.
WHICH HIGH-PROFILE BRANDS AND ARTISTS HAS SUPREME COLLABORATED WITH?
Supreme has collaborated with brands and artists such as Louis Vuitton, Nike, and The North Face.
HOW OFTEN DOES SUPREME RELEASE NEW COLLECTIONS?
Supreme releases new collections every season, with drops usually taking place on Thursdays.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LIMITED EDITION ITEMS RELEASED BY SUPREME?
Limited edition items released by Supreme often sell out quickly and can have high resale prices on the secondary market.
IN WHICH CITIES HAS SUPREME OPENED RETAIL STORES?
Supreme has opened retail stores in cities around the world, including London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.
WHO ARE SOME OF THE CELEBRITIES AND MUSICIANS THAT ARE FANS OF SUPREME?
Famous fans of Supreme include Tyler, The Creator, Kanye West, and Justin Bieber.
WHO ACQUIRED A 50% STAKE IN SUPREME IN 2017?
The private equity firm, the Carlyle Group, acquired a 50% stake in Supreme for $500 million in 2017.
HOW HAS SUPREME'S CULTURAL IMPACT BEEN RECOGNIZED?
Supreme's products have been recognized by institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which have included them in their collections.
WHY IS SUPREME SO HYPE?
Supreme is so hyped because it has built a strong brand identity and created a sense of exclusivity and scarcity around its products through limited releases and collaborations. The brand's reputation for quality and unique designs, as well as its association with celebrities and popular culture, has also contributed to its popularity and cultural significance. Additionally, the brand has created a strong community around it, with loyal fans and collectors who are willing to pay high prices to own and wear its products.
IS SUPREME A LUXURY BRAND?
While Supreme is not typically considered a traditional luxury brand like Chanel or Hermes, it has become a highly coveted and influential brand within the fashion industry. Supreme's limited edition releases, collaborations with high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, and association with celebrities. and popular culture have elevated its status and created a sense of exclusivity and scarcity around its products. This has led to high demand and resale prices for many of its items, making it a premium brand with a strong market presence.
IS SUPREME A SKATE BRAND?
Supreme started out as a skateboarding shop in downtown Manhattan in 1994, and the brand has maintained a connection to skate culture throughout its history. Supreme's first products were skateboards and accessories, and the brand has continued to release skate-related products such as apparel, shoes, and collaborations with skate brands like Independent and Spitfire.
However, over time, Supreme has expanded beyond skate culture and has become a highly influential and sought-after brand within the fashion industry, collaborating with high-end fashion brands and designers, and releasing a wide range of products that go beyond skateboarding. So, while Supreme has roots in skateboarding, it has grown into a brand that transcends any one particular niche or category.
1990s
Arguably the most famous streetwear brand of all time, Supreme is a skate brand from New York. Founded by James Jebbia in 1994, since its launch the brand has grown to become a global icon of style and street culture, with collections and collaborations encompassing art, music, film, fashion and more.
Born in the USA but raised in England until he was 19, James Jebbia started out running the Union store in New York in 1989, followed by Stüssy’s New York flagship two years later. In 1994, while he was still working at Stüssy, he opened a small skate store on Lafayette Street, selling skate decks and hardware as well as simple apparel such as t-shirts and sweats.
Supreme is best known for its distinctive box logo. Inspired by the work of contemporary artist Barbara Kruger, its simple use of bold red and white text in Futura Oblique has become a mainstay of street fashion. Appearing on t-shirts, hoodies, outerwear, hats and more, any product featuring the box logo is guaranteed to sell-out in seconds.
Thanks to a number of converging instances, Supreme quickly grew in popularity; a solid reputation amongst downtown New York’s skate community, along with brief cameos in skate videos and Larry Clark’s seminal 1995 film Kids, established the brand as an authentic street label in NYC, whilst Japanese tourists coming from Tokyo’s burgeoning streetwear scene quickly caught on to the brand’s unique blend of cultural influences and uncompromised skate style, establishing it as a hyped brand on a par with the likes of Stüssy, X-LARGE, SSUR and A Bathing Ape.
It was overseas, in fact, where Supreme’s popularity really kicked off. In 1998, just four years after launching his brand, Jebbia opened Supreme’s first Japanese flagship in Tokyo’s trendy Daikanyama district. This would be followed by two more that year, gradually growing to 6 stores across the whole of Japan.
2000s
Though the brand’s status has been well-established in die-hard streetwear communities for many years, the rapid growth of the Internet over the past ten years has been a massive contributing factor to Supreme’s recent ascent to fame. Rumors of lines around the block awaiting new product, instant sell-outs and super-limited collaborations spread like wildfire through online forums and streetwear blogs, while the opening of the first Supreme online store in 2007 offered many fans of the brand outside New York and Japan their first glimpse of what the fuss was all about – of course, with the store being limited to US orders only, it was impossible for overseas fans to buy anything, but they were still able to watch the product sell out every Thursday.
Aside from the sprawling hype culture that follows Supreme wherever it goes, the brand is probably best known for its diverse and expansive collaborative releases. The brand treats their collaborations almost as an encyclopedia of New York history, global music, influential art and seminal moments in youth culture.
During the brand’s history, Supreme has collaborated with contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, musicians such as Miles Davis and Bad Brains, seminal New York figures like Malcolm McLaren and Rammellzee, as well as a slew of iconic fashion brands such as Timberland, Clarks Originals, The North Face, Vans, Thrasher and Air Jordan. Their original collaborative release with Nike SB arguably kick-started the Nike SB Dunk craze that followed over the next ten years, and their sneaker collaborations continue to be some of the most coveted footwear releases of all time.
2017
In 2017, Supreme made history by announcing a collaboration with iconic French fashion house Louis Vuitton. The collection debuted at the label’s Fall/Winter 2017 presentation in Paris, and released in July of that year at a series of pop-up locations around the globe.
2022
In 2022, Tremaine Emory was announced as Supreme’s new creative director.
