What Happened to Supreme After VF Corp. Bought the Company?
With reports of VF Corp. attempting to sell Supreme surfacing, we take a look back at the moments since the streetwear brand was acquired in 2020.
Supreme’s time under the VF Corp. umbrella may be coming to an end, according to a new report. Earlier this week, WWD reported that the fashion conglomerate was quietly shopping the streetwear brand to potential buyers as it continues an ongoing assessment of its brand portfolio.
The streetwear titan founded in 1994 has had a lot going on since it was acquired by VF Corp. in 2020. It's been able to expand its global footprint by opening flagships in countries like China and Italy. It battled public ridicule after its first creative director, Tremaine Emory, stepped away from the role after just two seasons, citing systemic racism as the cause for him leaving the company.
The brand has also had to combat the opinion from certain individuals that Supreme is “dead” or losing its cool factor after reaching its apex of hype in the 2010s. The Thursday morning drops might not be selling out in minutes these days, but let’s be honest, is product actually being available to shop casually really all that bad?
While only time will tell what Supreme’s fate is as it enters its fourth decade in business, we wanted to look back on all of the major events that have occurred at the brand since the monumental VF Corp. acquisition in 2020. Just to be clear, we know there have been a ton of big collaborations with brands like Burberry and MM6 Maison Margiela. Obviously, those are very important in their own right. We’re just focusing on larger moments related to business of the brand like retail expansion and revenue.
VF Corp. Acquires Supreme
When: November 2020
Just three years after a 50% stake of Supreme was purchased by the Carlyle Group for $500 million, it was bought by VF Corp., an equity firm that also owns heritage brands like Vans, Dickie, and The North Face, for $2.1 billion.
The acquisition reaffirmed Supreme as the biggest brand in streetwear. The backing of VF Corp. also positioned Supreme to grow even larger. Major goals included global expansion into new markets and finetuning its direct-to-consumer model. Founder James Jebbia maintained his role with the brand. In an official statement he said: “We are proud to join VF, a world-class company that is home to great brands we’ve worked with for years, including The North Face, Vans, and Timberland. This partnership will maintain our unique culture and independence, while allowing us to grow on the same path we’ve been on since 1994."
Supreme Milan Opens
When: May 2021
The first example of Supreme’s global expansion post-VF Corp. acquisition introduced the brand to Italy (no, we aren’t talking about that ridiculous counterfeit brand Supreme Italia). Supreme opened its Milan flagship in May 2021. It's located on the popular shopping street Corso Garibaldi. Walls are covered with giant bullet holes and other artwork by frequent collaborator Nate Lowman. An angel statue by Mark Gonzales is also present. Supreme Milan also marked one of the best store-exclusive T-shirt releases, a Box Logo filled with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper on the front and Grazie (Italian for “thank you”) written across the back.
VF Corp.’s Supply Chain Issues Impact Supreme
When: October 2021
The pandemic disrupted the entire global supply chain. VF Corp. was not immune to these issues. For a brand like Supreme that distributes product via a scarce, weekly drop model, interferences in production can be especially troublesome. According to a report by Bloomberg in October 2021, Supreme’s weekly drop inventory decreased around 33% in the prior weeks. Despite the setbacks, VF Corp.’s annual report filed on April 2, 2022 indicated that Supreme had a revenue of $561.5 million and net income of $82.4 million in the year ending in March 2022.
Supreme Berlin Opens
When: November 2021
Germany was another country to get its first Supreme store in 2021. The shop is located in the German capital city of Berlin. Like any Supreme store, this one is filled with art from some of the brand’s closest friends and collaborators. A giant fighter jet hanging from the ceiling by Mark Gonzales and painting by the late Rammellzee are the two standouts. A bench in the center of the store modeled after the ones seen at Kulturforum, an area in the city known for its abundance of skate spots, is the perfect final touch.
Tremaine Emory Appointed as Supreme’s First Creative Director
When: February 2022
The Denim Tears founder joined Supreme as its first front-facing creative director in February 2022. The appointment was met with excitement from members of the streetwear community that were eager to see Emory bring his knack for meaningful storytelling and rich narratives to the brand. Supreme Spring/Summer 2023 was the first full season released under Emory’s creative direction and was highlighted by varsity jacket collabs with his close friend Cactus of Cactus Plant Flea Market and a Coogi collaboration he called a “love letter to the block” in a since-deleted Instagram post. Unfortunately, the pairing was short-lived, and we never got to really see Emory’s full potential with Supreme. More on that later.
Supreme Chicago Opens
When: November 2022
After opening some outposts overseas, Supreme came back stateside to plant its roots in another major city. Supreme Chicago opened up on a corner of the popular shopping street Milwaukee Avenue. The opening marked the first Midwest flagship store for Supreme in the United States.
Supreme Moves Its Los Angeles Flagship
When: February 2023
Supreme’s store on Fairfax Avenue is a pivotal space in streetwear history. But all good things must come to an end. In early 2023, the Fairfax Avenue location closed its doors after 19 years in business. On Feb. 15, 2023, Supreme officially opened up its new flagship in West Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard in the former location of Tower Records. The 8,500-square-foot space (nearly double the size of the old LA space) features a floating skate bowl created by Steven Badgett’s Simparch, as well as art installations by the usual suspects like Mark Gonzales and Nate Lowman. While it was never clarified why specifically the Fairfax store shut down, the block is far removed from its heyday as LA’s streetwear hub. Couple that with Supreme’s growth, and it only makes sense that the brand’s outpost was moved to a bigger location, complete with a parking lot.
VF Corp. Reports Decline in Supreme’s Revenue for 2023
When: June 2023
After bringing in $562.1 million in revenue in the year ending in March 2022, Supreme was only able to accumulate $523.1 million the following year. This number was significantly lower than VF Corp.’s $600 million projection. Despite the underperformance on the balance sheet, execs said that Supreme still showed strong signs of growth in the form of more new locations and made some noise through big collabs with labels like fellow VF Corp. brand The North Face and legendary Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.
Supreme Seoul Opens
When: August 2023
In recent years, we have seen many brands open outposts and tap into South Korea to take advantage of the country’s streetwear boom. Supreme is no different. The brand’s flagship in Seoul officially opened in August 2023 in the city’s Gangnam district, one of its biggest shopping areas. “My goal was always to have Supreme stores in important cities around the world,” Jebbia told GQ in a 2023 email interview. “I think Seoul is as important as Tokyo or Paris today.”
Tremaine Emory Steps Away From Role at Supreme
When: August 2023
After just two full seasons as creative director, Emory stepped away from his role at Supreme. The designer cited systemic racism within the company as the cause for him leaving. The most talked-about issue was a lack of communication when a collaboration with artist Arthur Jafa that featured imagery of a formerly enslaved person and a lynching was scrapped without Emory’s knowledge. In an interview with Touré, Emory said that his resignation was due to Supreme’s “thoughtlessness and their lack of response when I was trying to garner discourse.”
In April 2024, Emory released the “Systemic Racism Control America” collection with Jafa through his own label, Denim Tears. The capsule referenced old Supreme designs and featured Jafa’s works like LeRage and Ex-Slave Gordon that were meant to appear on the never-released Supreme pieces.
Supreme Shanghai Opens
When: March 2024
One of the biggest examples of Supreme’s global expansion came with the grand opening of its first standalone store in China in March 2024. To coincide with the new store, Supreme also launched its own channel on WeChat, a popular social media and instant messaging platform in China.
The move was especially big because of the tricky history that Supreme has in the Chinese market. A counterfeit company known as Supreme Italia infamously obtained the rights to sell Supreme-branded product in China, something the official Supreme did not have at. The imposter even briefly opened a store in Shanghai in 2019. After a legal tussle, Supreme finally secured a Chinese trademark in May 2020. These issues have been resolved for a few years now, but it was still nice to see Supreme finally put an official stamp in the second most popular country in the world after all of the headaches.
Supreme Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary
When: April 2024
Getting to celebrate three decades in business is a big feat for any company, but it’s especially impressive for a streetwear brand to celebrate the 30-year milestone. It’s even more impressive when the brand is still as relevant as ever. Stüssy has been around over 40 years, but it has gone through its ebbs and flows despite being back on the top of its game today. The Hundreds celebrated 20 years in business this year, but doesn’t hold the same cultural cache that it did in the 2000s and 2010s. Although the brand’s coolness has been put into question in recent years as it continues to grow, Supreme’s dip hasn’t been quite as severe. It’s much more consistent.
For its 30th anniversary, Supreme celebrated with special products releases. One such item was a T-shirt featuring a smaller print of an original Taxi Driver T-shirt from 1994 signed by friends and family of the brand printed on the front. The more enticing offering was a three-volume anthology that documented every single T-shirt that the brand has released from 1994 to 2024.
VF Corp. Rumored to be Shopping Supreme
When: May 2024
According to WWD, VF Corp. is shopping Supreme to potential buyers. While an anonymous expert told WWD that Supreme “got too big to continue to be cool,” the rumors of a potential sale shouldn’t immediately be interpreted as Supreme failing or underperforming. VF Corp. is struggling as a whole. On an earnings call in February 2024, VF Corp. reported a 17% decrease in revenue for the third quarter of 2024. To right the ship, the company is currently having Goldman Sachs review its brand portfolio and exploring other cost-cutting measures. Thus, Supreme isn’t the only brand who’s future under the VF Corp. umbrella is in limbo.
While there is not a ton of numerical data available as it relates to Supreme’s recent financial performance (VF’s next earnings call takes places on May 22 and will likely provide that context), VF Corp. financial director Matthew Puckett did say that the brand was “performing well” and that “sales were strong across all product categories, helping to improve profitability” during the February 2024 earnings call. If Supreme does end up being sold, it could be due to a result of VF Corp.’s overall hardships more than a direct indictment of the brand itself.
