Supreme is one of the most widely known and respected brands in Streetwear. It might seem today that they just appeared overnight, although, there’s a rich history in the story of Supreme.
The Start Of Supreme Clothing
James Jebbia created Supreme in 1994 after coming off working in Stussy’s first retail store. In the past, James had opened a store for diverse goods and clothing called Union. James wasn’t fully fulfilled by Union and wanted to create a skate store in NYC. His vision was to create a store that was authentic to hardcore skaters and also accessible to shoppers that didn’t skate. He wanted to make a skate brand that was more luxurious than the average quality skate brands that were around in the early 90’s.
How Supreme Clothing Blew Up
Jebbia’s dream was a success. By hiring skateboarders in the community, he quickly was able to grow the brand from inside the skater culture. The highly influential and highly controversial movie KIDS (1995) featured actors that would frequently hang out at the Supreme store and also were skaters. Supreme was published in Vogue alongside CHANEL early on in an article. In the publication it was said that “CHANEL would likely be more influenced by Supreme, than Supreme be influenced by CHANEL.”
Later on Supreme would go to collaborate with the biggest brands we see today. These include: Nike, Louis Vuitton, Levis, and The North Face. It quickly gained a unique online presence In the golden age of Tumblr. Throughout this period of time we would see Supreme being worn by artists such as Tyler the Creator and A$AP Rocky which took the hype of Supreme to new heights.
“We’re making stuff we’re proud of. Not doing stuff to stay alive. I don’t think enough people take risks, and when you do, people respond. In music, art, and fashion.” – James Jebbia
