Supreme: The Rise of Streetwear's Greatest Icon

In the world of streetwear, there are a few brands that stand as giants over the rest.

Perhaps the biggest one is a brand that even the most out-of-the-loop person would know.

And if they don’t know it’s name already, they’d surely know after seeing its one word plastered inside of a red box. Of course, I’m talking about…

SUPREME.

Recently, Supreme announced that they were selling to a new parent company, EssilorLuxottica — the owner of Ray-Bans, and with that came social media chatter about the brand itself and the state of streetwear.

For some, Supreme’s new owner signals a changing of the guard and a shift in consumer interests. But for others, it signals an attempt to bring the brand back to its former glory after experiencing challenges in the past few years.

However you look at it, it’s safe to say that the world of streetwear wouldn’t be what it is today without Supreme.

That said, let’s talk about the GOAT streetwear brand.

The OG of all OG’s: Supreme.

I. The Founding

Supreme’s founder is James Jebbia — a British-American entrepreneur and designer born in 1963, who spent his early years in England before moving to the United States in the ‘80s.

He first gained experience in the clothing industry working for an apparel line in the UK named Parachute, before leaving to start his own store in New York, Union NYC, with his partner Mary Ann Fusco.

Union proved to be a success for the duo, and it allowed Jebbia to start stocking the skater brand Stüssy.

This pioneering streetwear brand influenced his understanding of the subcultures that would later shape Supreme.

After some time working with Stussy’s founder, the two separated, forcing Jebbia to think about what his next move would be. Armed with his retail and streetwear knowledge, he chose to start his own line: Supreme.

In 1994, Jebbia established the first Supreme store in New York City, initially catering to skaters from the apparel to the feel of the store.

As the store became a hub for the community, Jebbia also took note of their clothing and noticed a gap in the clothing market: the clothing geared toward skateboarders wasn’t the same level of quality as its contemporaries (specifically the clothing of the workwear movement like Carhartt), and made he it his mission to make improvements.

Moreover, Jebbia noticed that the skaters who frequented his shop wore high-end apparel with their workwear to create a new aesthetic. These revelations informed the first few supreme products and ultimately paved the way for the brand to grow.

II. Rise to Cult Status

As Supreme’s reputation began to grow in and around New York, they began to attract the attention of pop artists and culture enthusiasts (i.e. Hypebeasts) who helped spread its name on the scene.

Supreme also became coveted because the supply of their clothing was limited. Although most coveted brands typically do this as a rule of thumb to keep the brand feeling exclusive, Jebbia noted that they actually did this with supreme because they couldn’t afford to take losses on inventory.

Between the scarcity, hypebeasts, and quality the brand took off.

By the 2010s the brand was on its way to reaching new heights, and with that a particular co-sign helped bring its cultural influence to the next level.

That co-sign was none other than the California collective:

Odd Future.

B***h, if your n**** had Supreme, we was the reason he copped it - Earl Sweatshirt

While innocuous fans might wonder why Tyler is a part of the next collection of Supreme merch, fans of the brand know that him and Odd Future’s co-sign in the early 2010s was pivotal to the brand reaching new heights.

Tyler the Creator wore a Supreme hat in the videos that effectively launched the collective into pop culture, and you could routinely see him wearing the brand out and about.

Members would routinely rap about their clothing on different songs, and fans on reddit have even made over/under bets on the odds of Earl Sweatshirt wearing a Supreme hat in interviews.

They were one of the first acts of a new wave of Hip-hop to embrace them on a national platform.

Supreme even featured Tyler the Creator in print ads for some of their campaigns which helped increase their footprint with a newer generation of fashionistas.

And then there’s the drops…

Before digital stores became a thing, hypebeasts, collectors, and fashionistas would line up around the block to cop the latest Supreme items.

Like the Nike releases back in the day, some of the releases were so contentious they led to fist fights.

In fact, two years ago, during the Burberry x Supreme drop, consumers came to blows outside of the store (peep the footage below).

Even though drops were contention during the 2010s…

The digital revolution helped shift much of Supreme’s presence online, and with that came some regulation to the drops.

Not only would Supreme frequently put out new collections, but they also choose one day to do these drops, and that’s…

THURSDAY.

Typically, Supreme has a Spring & Fall collection that they drop every year, and the clothing community does their best to get their hands on the lookbooks to see what pieces to look out for.

Why?

Because, anytime a new Supreme collection appears, you can virtually guarantee that it will be available online at 11am on Thursday (before invariably being botted and sold out within seconds).

You have to be quick, in the know, or part of bot crew to get some of Supreme’s biggest drops; Knowing when the day of the drop is can be the difference between copping items for retail or deciding to take your chances on the resell market.

Between celebrity endorsements and their coveted Thursday drops, Supreme was able to firmly establish itself as the leader in streetwear.

In the process, they opened 14 stores across the world, and with that came unprecedented levels of success.

After being acquired in the late 2010s…

the brand made a monumental shift by naming the first ever creative director who wasn’t a part of the founding team: Tremaine Emory.

Tremaine, known for his brand Denim Tears and his influential work in streetwear, aimed to blend his deep-rooted cultural narratives with Supreme's iconic aesthetic.

However, his tenure was relatively short-lived, ending in 2023 amid reports of creative differences and allegations of systemic issues within the company.

Despite his departure, Emory's impact on Supreme's collections remains notable for its cultural depth and innovation​

III. The Collaborations

Perhaps the biggest part of Supreme’s story is their collabs.

As a brand they’ve partnered with every brand you can think of from Northface to Gucci, and depending on who you ask, fans rank each collab differently.

However, there are a few collections that stand head and shoulders above every other one, and these are the ones that helped the lore of Supreme reach new heights.

They have over 50 collabs, so I won’t go through them all but here are a few that top most lists:

A. Northface

In 2007, Supreme locked in its first longtime partnership with another premium apparel brand — North Face; In the process, they even decided to do yearly collabs with them which helped launch the brand further into culture.

It was the first brand that Supreme committed to doing yearly collabs with, and hypebeasts/Supreme purists alike tout it as one of the most important in the brands history.

The two continued to release apparel together all the way into 2020. Peep the picture below for the very first pieces from their collaboration in ‘07.

B. Nike

Nike has always been at the forefront of sneaker culture because of their catalog (including Jordan brand, depending on how you look at it).

When Supreme partnered with Nike on a pair of SB’s (SB’s being skateboarding shoes) it felt like a full circle moment for the Supreme brand.

To date, Supreme Nike collabs are still floating around, with one of the most respected being the Supreme Air Force 1 low which was a part of their Spring 2020 collection.

C. Tiffany & Co.

Supreme continue to break boundaries in streetwear, and their collection with Tiffany & Co. proved to be another bright spot in their brand story.

At the time, high low collabs weren’t as frequent as they are now. Because of that, seeing the brand partner with an established high-end brand that typically catered to a different (and more affluent) generation stood out.

To date, the t shirt from this collection still fetches $100s online.

Now, whether or not it will be genuine Supreme is another story for another day.

**Other honorable mentions include the Louis Vuitton, Commes de Garcon, Honda, and the NY Metro card collabs. As well as the collaborations that gave us the Supreme money gun, and Supreme brick.

IV. The Acquisition(s)

As the streetwear game continued to change so did the landscape for even the most established brands, including Supreme.

With these changes, the private equity world began investing in the streetwear space.

Their new interest allowed Jebbia decided to sell a 50% stake in Supreme to The Carlyle Group for approximately $500 million (valuing the company at $1 billion).

This investment sparked discussions about Supreme’s place in the fashion world and its future direction, but it wouldn’t be the last ownership change.

In 2020, the VF Corporation, owner of brands like The North Face, Vans, and Timberland, acquired Supreme for $2.1 billion.

This acquisition raised even more questions about the brand’s ability to maintain its exclusivity and authenticity under a large corporate umbrella.

Despite that, Supreme is still going strong.

V. The Cultural Impact

Lastly, what better way to wrap this up than to talk about Supreme’s impact. With the context of how Supreme became the leader of the streetwear movement, if you were to boil down their impact into a few key points it’d likely be the following.

1. Box Logo Phenomenon:The "Box Logo" T-shirt became one of the most recognizable symbols in streetwear, leading to long lines and instant sellouts.

2. Influence on Streetwear Culture: Supreme played a significant role in defining modern streetwear, influencing countless brands and creating a resale market where items often sell for multiple times their original price.

3. High-Low Culture: By collaborating with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Supreme helped blur the lines between streetwear and high fashion, contributing to the elevation of streetwear in the global fashion industry.

EPILOGUE

Who knows what the future holds for Supreme with their most recent acquisition, but if history is any indicator as to what we can expect, then I’m sure the brand will be just fine.

Tyler the creator is the face of their new collection, which feels like a very full-circle moment for the brand (and he’s sporting a green box t-shirt, no less).

When you think about it, this acquisition might open up an entirely new realm of partnerships that the brand either hadn’t considered before or had trouble accessing.

Either way, I’ll be around to check it out. You should do the same.

One.