The brand is in a class of its own, being one of the first names in skate
wear to actually cross cultural borders between hip-hop, art, high-fashion,
pop and more. Never has been a brand so polarizing now too, with devoted fans
still praising its subversively cool aesthetic and haters bashing the brand
for fueling the negative ideologies of ‘hype.’
But whether you get it or not, founder James Jebbia has carefully curated Supreme’s
street-meets-art culture ethos for those in the know. The result has been of
course, met with ravenous acceptance as hordes of streetwear fans are still
willing to pay top dollar — even at a sometimes 2000% mark-up in re-sellers
market — for its logo-adorned goods.
(Right) A$AP Rocky wearing Supreme
Originally a skate shop, “Supreme wasn’t meant to be a brand. I just was
like, ‘Hey, that’s a cool name for a store.’ Founder James Jebbia went on to say, “With Supreme,
there were no grand plans—with the name, with the store, with anything. It all just evolved.
“A lot of us who didn’t have apartments, who had weird situations,
we all knew we could go there, get a meal, have a beer, a smoke,” said Mr. Bondaroff,
the gallerist, who was a high-school dropout from Brooklyn at the time.
James Jebbia, founder of Supreme
(Rapper) Tyler, the Creator grew up with knowing the Supreme family before it had its
clothing. So thus, Supreme became popular to the masses at the hands of Tyler.
"We would always skate around the area (LA).
That was the only store in the area at the time that sold skateboards, so we’d
go in there and buy boards, and I just gradually became friends with the guys
who were working there. They would always just look out for us, me and my friends,
when we were over there and out and about. They were like our big brothers over there
and shit, they were older than us. I’m still cool with them to this day—I was
over there yesterday. And over the last year, as I got bigger perhaps or whatever,
I would always rap about it, and the guys at the L.A. store would always put
a good word in for me with the dudes, the head guys, in New York. I eventually met
and we’ve been cool since. We respected each other, cause that’s my favorite
sh*t. It’s just cool I can be a part of this family and sh*t.
I’ve always looked up to them."
Tyler, the Creator (Move mouse onto image for a suprise!)
