
Supreme. The now famous store started out as a small skate shop in 1994. It was opened by an American born, English raised, 30-year-old fashion enthusiast James Jebbia. The first Supreme store opened on Lafayette St. in SoHo and there are now 11 stores worldwide: two in New York, one in Los Angeles, one in London, one in Paris, three in Tokyo, one in Osaka, one in Nagoya, and one in Fukuoka.
If you don’t already know what Supreme is, it’s a clothing brand that sells their clothes in limited quantities, at relatively cheap prices, that then resell for massive amounts. This large resale prices increase the hype around the brand, and it just keeps growing.
In the beginning, the Supreme store sold skate gear such as decks, trucks, wheels and other skate brand clothing, along with a few of their own signature tees. In 1995, Supreme released its now famous box logo t-shirt consisting of the word “Supreme” printed inside a red box, on a white t-shirt, in Futura font. Over time, Supreme stopped selling other brands in their stores, and on their website, to make room for their own products which were rapidly increasing in popularity.
There have been several big events in Supreme history, such as when they were sued by artist Barbara Kruger because of the extreme similarities between the logo and her artwork. Supreme also received a cease and desist from French fashion house Louis Vuitton for selling fake Louis Vuitton print Supreme shirts. Another memorable moment was when Supreme and Louis Vuitton worked together to make a collection that included pieces that are now selling for thousands of dollars.
A huge part of Supreme is their high profile collaborations with other brands. Over the past twenty years, they have worked with a number of other high profile brands such as: Nike, Louis Vuitton, BAPE, The North Face, Vans, DC Shoes, Timberland, Oakley, Playboy, Budweiser, Brooks Brothers, and Rolex. Supreme has also collaborated with more niche brands such as Anti-Hero.
Supreme is also known for working with artists such as KAWS, and Nuptse, who designed the extremely popular “By Any Means Necessary” collection.
Another Supreme classic is their photo tees in which they take a photo of a celebrity in their famous box logo shirt and put that photograph on a shirt. Nas, Gucci Mane and Kate Moss have all done this.
Finally, Supreme wouldn’t be Supreme without their accessories. The accessories range from the practical to the ridiculous. Some of the more practical accessories are the: Supreme Zippo, the blanket, the towel and the tools such as the ax and crowbar. There are some expensive and ridiculous Supreme accessories though, such as: the motorcycle, the tent, the guitar, and the pinball machine.
Last year Supreme famously sold a brick that resold for hundreds of dollars and made many wonder why. The only answer to that was because it was a brick made by Supreme.