![]() | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2022) |
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Company type | Subsidiary |
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Industry | clothing industry ![]() |
Founded | 1994 |
Founder | James Jebbia (Founder & CEO) |
Headquarters | New York City , United States of America |
Number of locations | 17 |
Products | Clothing, shoes, accessories, skateboards |
Revenue | ![]() |
US$116 million (2024) | |
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Parent | EssilorLuxottica |
Website | supreme |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
Supreme is an American clothing brand established in New York City in April 1994. The company focuses on streetwear, skateboarding, and hip hop fashion trends. Its main products include clothing, skateboards, and accessories.
In December 2020, the U.S.-based apparel and footwear company VF Corporation bought Supreme for $2.1 billion. [3] In 2024, the brand was sold to EssilorLuxottica for $1.5 billion. [4]
The brand was founded in 1994 by American-British businessman and fashion designer James Jebbia. During the formation of the brand, Jebbia was inspired by a book on Barbara Kruger's artwork, which influenced the design of Supreme's red box logo with white Futura Heavy Oblique font. The brand later released unlicensed remixes, which featured the works of artists and brands such as Jackson Pollock and Coca-Cola. [5] [6] [7]
The first store was opened in a former office space on Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan in April 1994. [8] [9] It featured a layout that accommodated skateboarding and a selection of clothes arranged around the store's perimeter. The store's first employees included skaters and actors, such as Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter, [6] as well as extras from the Larry Clark film Kids.
Jebbia stated that he opened Supreme in Lower Manhattan because there were few options for buying skateboarding products in that area at the time. [10]
In 2004, a second location was opened on North Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles, California, nearly double the size of the original New York City store. [11] Other locations include London, which opened in September 2011; Paris, which opened in 2016; Tokyo (Harajuku, Daikanyama and Shibuya); Nagoya; Osaka; and Fukuoka. [12] The additional locations emulate the original Lafayette Street store's design. [9] [10]
In 2013, Supreme filed a lawsuit against Leah McSweeney and her brand Married to the Mob, seeking damages of $10 million. The basis for the lawsuit was the assertion that the "Supreme Bitch" logo used by Married to the Mob infringed upon Supreme's well-known box logo. McSweeney secured the services of a civil rights attorney and legal heavyweight Norman Siegel to represent her in court. [13] Kruger, the artist who inspired Supreme's box logo, has long remained silent on Supreme's use of her artistic concept. She responded to the legal issue, stating that everyone involved in the situation was a "ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers... I'm waiting for all of them to sue me for copyright infringement." [14] The motion for voluntary dismissal of the suit filed by Supreme was granted by the court just three months after it was filed. [15]
On October 6, 2017, Jebbia confirmed that the label had sold roughly 50% of the stake in the company to private equity firm The Carlyle Group for around $500 million. [16] [17] On February 25, 2019, Supreme moved their flagship store at 274 Lafayette Street to a new location at 190 Bowery Street. [18]
In November 2020, VF Corporation announced that they agreed to buy Supreme in an all-cash deal for $2.1 billion. [19] VF Corporation bought out investors Carlyle Group and Goode Partners LLC, as well as founder James Jebbia. According to VF, Jebbia continues to manage the business. [20] Supreme was then sold to the eyewear company and Ray-Ban owner, EssilorLuxottica, in July 2024 for $1.5 billion. [1]
The original Supreme skate team consisted of Ryan Hickey, Justin Pierce, Gio Estevez, Paul Leung, Chris Keefe, Jones Keefe, Peter Bici, and Mike Hernandez. Other skaters, such as Harold Hunter and Jeff Pang, became associates of the company. [21]
Supreme's skate team has included Aidan Mackey, Brian Anderson, Ben Kadow, Jason Dill, Sean Pablo, Tyshawn Jones, Mark Gonzales, Kader Sylla, Sage Elsesser, Rowan Zorilla, Seven Strong, Troy Gipson, Vince Touzery, Caleb Barnett, Yuto Horigome, Nik Stain, Kevin Rodrigues, and Beatrice Domond. [21] [9]
Following the Paris store's opening in 2016, Supreme also formed a French skate team that includes Dayanne Akadiri, Manuel Schenck, Lucien Momy, Dadoum Chabane, Damien Bulle, Victor Demonte, Valentin Jutant, and Samir Krim. [22]
Supreme has secured trademarks in countries within North America, Europe, and Asia. [23] However, Supreme lost a legal case in Italy in 2018, [24] and the European Union declined to register its trademark. [25] Consequently, items branded "Supreme" that are not officially licensed, approved, or produced by Supreme could be legally sold in Italy and Spain. This allowance was only for a limited time. [26]
Following Supreme's success in Japan and China, [27] [28] in 2018, Samsung Electronics announced a promotional partnership with a counterfeit Supreme brand to open retail stores in China. [29] [30] This decision faced significant backlash from consumers, leading Samsung to terminate the partnership a few months later. [31]
In November 2019, an appellate court of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recognized the distinctiveness of Supreme's brand, making it eligible for an EU trademark. The court noted that the brand is perceived as "cult" in the streetwear sector. [23] [32] On August 27, 2020, EUIPO granted Supreme a Europe-wide trademark for bags, clothing, and retail stores. [33] [34]
Supreme stocks its own clothing label, as well as other skateboard brands such as Vans, Nike SB, Spitfire Wheels, and Thrasher. [35] Supreme releases two collections each year. Instead of offering the entire line at once, the brand releases a few pieces online and in-store from the current season's collection every Thursday. [10]
Fashion photographer Terry Richardson has produced several photographs for the brand. This includes Michael Jordan, Kermit the Frog, [36] Three 6 Mafia, Lou Reed, Lady Gaga, Neil Young, [37] Gucci Mane, Nas, and Morrissey.
William "Bill" Strobeck serves as Supreme's main filmmaker and has produced several web edits for the brand, such as Joyride (2014), [38] Swoosh (2015), [39] and King Puppy (2016). [40] Strobeck has also filmed and directed both of Supreme's full-length films, Cherry (2014) and BLESSED (2018). [41] [42]
In 2018, Supreme was awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Menswear Designer of the Year Award. [9]
Supreme has engaged in various collaborations with multiple brands and individuals. In 2017, Supreme collaborated with Louis Vuitton, [43] and in 2020, the artist Takashi Murakami worked on a collaboration that featured a special edition Box Logo Tee that raised $1 million for COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts. [44] Supreme's partnership with Yohji Yamamoto in late 2020 featured Yamamoto's 'avant-garde tailoring' and Supreme's 'urban aesthetic'. A subsequent collaboration in 2022 emphasized the same trend, with the Blitzkrieg collection incorporating graphics and designs from the Tekken video game series. [45] [46] In March 2022, Supreme also partnered with British label Burberry for a collection of both clothing and accessories.
Supreme has collaborated with Fender on the Supreme x Fender Stratocaster -guitar and with Meissen on porcelain statuettes with the Supreme box logo. [47] [48] [49] [50] [51]
Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate based in Milan. As a vertically integrated company, Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails its eyewear brands all through its own subsidiaries. The company, presently organized as a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica which formed when the Italian conglomerate merged with the French optical firm Essilor, is the world's largest company in its industry, both prior to and after its merger with Essilor.
Vans is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the brand was the primary sponsor of the annual Warped Tour music festival.
Pearle Vision is an American chain of eye care stores. It is one of the largest franchised optical retailers in North America. The company was acquired by Luxottica, an Italian eyewear company, in 2004. As of December 31, 2018, Pearle Vision operated 110 corporate stores and had 419 franchises throughout North America.
Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through artificial scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.
VF Corporation is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 by John Barbey and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 13 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor, Active and Work. In 2015, the company controlled 55% of the U.S. backpack market with the JanSport, Eastpak, Timberland, and The North Face brands.
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Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.
FUCT or Friends U Can't Trust is a clothing brand founded in Los Angeles in 1990 by American artist and designer Erik Brunetti and partner at the time, professional skateboarder Natas Kaupas. Brunetti has said he choose the name "FUCT" because it was a homophone of the expletive "fucked" and he wanted people to question its pronunciation. FUCT has been referred to as one of the pioneering brands of modern streetwear, often incorporating various elements and icons of pop culture alongside anti-government and anti-religious campaigns into their designs including the use of parodied logos.
Dylan Joseph Rieder was an American professional skateboarder, artist, and model.
James Jebbia is an American-British businessman, fashion designer and former child actor. He is known for being the founder of the skateboarding shop and clothing brand Supreme.
Tyshawn Jones is an American professional skateboarder, from New York. He is a two time Thrasher Skater of the Year winner.
EssilorLuxottica SA is an Italian-French vertically integrated multinational corporation based in Paris and founded on 1 October 2018 from the merger of the Italian Luxottica with the French Essilor. The eyewear-focused group designs, produces and markets ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment, prescription glasses and sunglasses.
Palace Skateboards is a London-based skateboarding and clothing brand established in 2009. The brand was founded by Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis. Palace focuses on skater fashion with heavy 90s and pop culture influences alongside VHS style clothing advertisements. The skate team promotes its branded content and skate videos. Palace has flagship stores in London, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Seoul. The brand has gained popularity within the streetwear community.
William Strobeck is an American filmmaker, director, videographer, and photographer based out of New York City. Strobeck directed the skate videos: cherry (2014), BLESSED (2018), CANDYLAND (2019), STALLION (2021) and PLAY DEAD (2022).
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Fucking Awesome is an American skateboard company and streetwear brand. FA was created by professional skateboarders Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen. FA has created collaborations with brands like Vans, Adidas, and Independent Trucks.
Jason Dill is an American professional skateboarder, photographer, and co-founder of Fucking Awesome—an American skate company.
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