Our Love/Hate Relationship With Supreme

Supreme is a brand that inspires all sorts of thoughts and feelings from all sorts of people; we asked a handful of these people to share their experiences with Supreme below.

I enjoy Supreme. Like a super simple box logo-type situation. I almost bought one of those polka dot bootleg Supreme x CDG hoodies in Hong Kong because fake limited-editions give me enormous pleasure, but then I ran out of space in my carry-on and I didn't like it enough to check luggage. I love people who Stan for Supreme, and pretty much all hypebeasts as a concept, but I'm tremendously conflicted about Complex trying to make Fuccmom a thing since that one mom bought that one vest for reasons that I dislike but mostly understand. She wrote about it in the NYT and I felt a way.

The thing that I'm really torn about, however, is that Bathing Ape guy who calls himself the "Ape" and terrorizes people wearing Supreme or lining up for a drop. I was SO into him because I thought he was hysterical, but now I think he's basically just beating people up which is less inventive than I'd hoped for him. I wanted it to be art, but it's not. Which, lol, is now totally reminding me of that fuego take-down that Barbara Kruger wrote about Supreme. I believe it was, "What a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers." Basically the moral of the story on how I feel about Supreme is that Barbara Kruger is the GOAT.” —Mary H.K. Choi, writer

The most interesting thing about Supreme in 2016 is the line outside the store; dozens of kids standing/posing for hours on Lafayette and waiting waiting waiting for the next product drop. I wouldn't want to watch the line all day — in person nor via Periscope — but I would love for someone to do it for me. If someone could send me a summary of what goes on every day and then send it to me as a newsletter, that'd be dope. Like, people finding and losing love on the Supreme line; people fighting over spots; people discussing life, school, and $100 T-shirts. Actually, that'd be a great TV show idea. —Jeff Rosenthal, hip-hop sketch comedian

If you're someone who spends any amount of time thinking about how to build a solid brand that people feel strongly about, you have to respect the success of Supreme — regardless of whether or not their aesthetic is for you. It's not for me, and I don't own anything of theirs, but I'm inspired by their creativity and their business savvy in creating pent-up demand. They've managed to develop a look and a feel that is immediately identifiable, yet they iterate on it constantly so there's always a newness to it that their fans want to own a piece of. Creating new, different things while staying true to a singular brand vision season after season (er, limited-edition sweatshirt after limited-edition sweatshirt) is incredibly challenging, and I think it's the one thing that distinguishes truly successful fashion brands. You can spot it from a mile away, but it never feels tired. —Claire Mazur, entrepreneur

I own a sleeping bag from the Supreme x North Face collab. My love for it is unreasonable! Whenever I unroll it in a tent or whatever, I am reminded of my true self, which is not outdoorsy, but deeply bourgeois and an aspirational teen. —Marisa Meltzer, writer

"If you're someone who spends any amount of time thinking about how to build a solid brand that people feel strongly about, you have to respect the success of Supreme."

I used to sneak up to NYC from Philly via Chinatown buses (pre-ubiquitous cellphone use, let alone smartphones, all under the guise of "I'm just gonna skate in Philly, ma! Be home before midnight!") and skate through the city with a bunch of friends. We would always hit a cheap dumpling spot, skate up to the Tompkins Square Park, fuck around in the LES/Soho for a bit, maybe hit the Brooklyn Banks to see if we could see any pros, and then hit the skate shops before heading back to Chinatown to go home. Supreme was always a stop on the tour. We'd save up to buy a deck, maybe a shirt, and always a few slappers (large stickers) to stunt on the kids we skated with back in south Jersey. We'd see dudes like Mark Gonzalez hanging there and we'd always have an eye out for Harold Hunter, though we never got to see him in the flesh. I stopped skating the mid-00's, but never lost my desire to see what Supreme was up to.

Now, I can tell it's Thursday when I make my way down Prince towards Lafayette and I see the barricades up, hypebeasts galore, and not one person with a fucking skateboard in line. And I'm here for it. The original dudes put in a lot of time into making Supreme what it is today and it's impact on the culture has taken off again post-Tyler, the Creator. When dudes like Virgil Abloh wear a box logo tee to their LVMH Prize jury, that's living a youthful dream in the present. That's like wearing your dad's cufflinks at your wedding, but for kids who grew up in mixed punk and hip-hop scenes and don't even fuck with cufflinks. They do still have problematic endeavors, though: still using Terry Richardson as a photog for starters, helping people like Ian Connor proclaim himself as "King of the Youth,” working with the highly homophobic lead singer of the Bad Brains, and last but not least, my first ~problematic fave~ Morrissey. —Ryan J. Simons, office producer

Supreme is our neighbor and we love them. They're an incredible brand that has become iconic internationally. Supreme has set the tone and pace for every other streetwear brand, while maintaining its integrity for the aesthetic and quality. As much as it is repetitive, every time they do something new, it's still fresh. Not to mention they always seem to hit the nail on their collaborations. —Vinny Dotolo, chef and restaurateur

Every few months I'll see a line of people wrapped around a Soho block and think the same thing to myself: Who's giving away free stuff? Then I remember it's Supreme and this is New York City and people are waiting in line for the privilege of paying $28 for a Hanes T-shirt. —Claire Schlissel, artist and DJ

"Creating new, different things while staying true to a singular brand vision season after season is incredibly challenging, and I think it's the one thing that distinguishes truly successful fashion brands."

Supreme has succeeded for 20+ years by diametrically opposing the conventional trajectory taken by contemporary businesses. They’ve done this a few ways.

1. Making sure their brand is bulletproof. Think about where you see ads for Supreme. The brand is so strong that they don't have to say anything about themselves unless they really feel like it (and even then, it's in cult publications like 032c, Sense, and Sneeze). Cut everything away — fuckboys, their soccer moms, art as industry, resellers, children, celebrities, child celebrities, celebrity stylists, the internet, Instagram girls in Calvin Klein underwear, Asian tourists, etc. — and you'll still have, at its core, a skate shop on Lafayette that doesn't give a shit about anyone outside of its team. I hope that never changes.

2. Never sacrificing sustainability for short-term gains. Supreme infamously restricts production numbers on every piece in a collection and never (99.99% of the time) remakes anything. People will acknowledge this like it's the most obvious thing and then never implement the practice with their own brand. To me, this is just proof that you can absolutely do more by doing less. Furthermore, Supreme lets things cook for as long as they need to; there's never a rush to accommodate the whims of external influences. Nothing compromises the time they need to incubate product or media.

3. Limiting growth. Supreme Paris opened just a few months ago, more than two decades after the original shop did. James Jebbia deserves all the applause in the world for making sure that his financing partners allow him to make moves when they feel right. Prioritizing numbers isn't always the move. By clearly defining what financial and cultural success means to them, Supreme has managed to become a brand that transcends categorical limits entirely.

4. Supporting their people. Supreme has directly and tangentially supported the viability of brands created by its alumni. OAMC, Fucking Awesome, Noah, Alltimers, Know Wave, aNYthing, Hardies, and Proper Gang come to mind. So many brands simply extract value from their communities and audience. This is speculation on my part, but Supreme seems to make sure that its people are able to build shit outside of the organization. —Phil Chang, creative director and brand strategist