Supreme is a relatively young fashion company that has seen considerable success in a short period of time – is it owned by Louis Vuitton?
As of November 2020, Supreme is owned by the VF Corporation and hasn’t ever been under the ownership of LVMH. The latter company is the conglomerate that also owns Louis Vuitton, and it specializes more in luxury fashion labels and brands.
Read on to learn more about Supreme, who owns the brand, and where it fits into the fashion industry.
The Supreme Level Of Fashion
When Supreme was founded in the mid-nineties, its mission was to provide apparel and equipment to skateboarders. James Jebbia opened his first store in Manhattan and immediately began catering to young, sporty individuals.
His store was revolutionary and featured a wide, open-plan design that accommodated skateboards quite literally riding through the door. This was in 1994 when skateboarding was facing an all-time high in popularity levels.
This popularity and demand for high-quality skateboarding apparel made Supreme a considerable success story very early on. There was quite a prominent skateboarding scene present in New York throughout the nineties, meaning Supreme had a firm customer base.
However, despite the popularity, it took Jebbia a decade to open a second store, this time in California. It was a tactical move, as California’s skating scene was even more prevalent than that of New York.
Remarkably, the second store broadened the ‘revolutionary’ appeal, with Jebbia constructing an actual skate park inside the store. As the company’s profile rose exponentially in stature, Jebbia went international, opening stores in Paris, London, and Tokyo, among other cities.
While Supreme manufactured and stocked its own label, it also offered products from other skateboarding brands. However, some might argue that Supreme has effectively overtaken some of these brands as the years have pushed ever onwards.
Street Smarts
Although Supreme started off almost exclusively selling skateboarding clothes and brands, the clothing would come to find mass popularity elsewhere. Today, it’s an extremely sought-after streetwear brand that appeals massively to youth and hip-hop cultures.
It might come as a surprising fact, but Supreme is most popular in China and Japan, almost exclusively among young people. There are several stores throughout Japan, in cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Shibuya.
In an interview, James Jebbia explained that the Supreme brand never really ‘targeted’ Japan, and it was more a case of the Japanese people finding them. He suggested that the brand acquired a cult following in the country, and young people flocked to it.
As we’ve already highlighted, Supreme’s label diverged a little, with a vast portion of its customer base no longer being comprised of just skaters. You can walk down the street in many cities around the world and spot the Supreme logo without seeing it paired with a skateboard.
High Value, High Quality
People appreciate Supreme’s products for their exclusivity, image, and ultimately, their quality. They’re willing to pay the price for Supreme’s offerings, even if those prices are often considerably high.
However, while Supreme is classed as a luxury brand, it’s nowhere near the level of labels like Gucci, Prada, or Hermes. You can usually find a t-shirt retailing for around forty dollars, or pick up a sweater for one or two hundred dollars.
This is likely one of the reasons a conglomerate like LVMH wouldn’t consider acquiring Supreme. They’re focused almost entirely on the pinnacle of luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moet & Chandon, and Hublot.
Instead, Supreme is owned outright by the VF Corporation, which purchased the brand in late 2020 for just over two billion dollars. This conglomerate’s subsidiaries include more affordable brands, such as The North Face, Timberland, and Vans.
The Supreme Business Model
As we explained in another article, the success of Supreme’s products stems mostly from their position as ‘Veblen’ goods. Put simply, these are certain luxurious items that increase in demand as the price rises.
It’s a strange economical factor and contradicts the laws of demand, but it works extremely well. There will always be people who want to buy something expensive just because a lot of other people can’t buy it.
This works extremely well in Supreme’s case, as its key demographic is ultimately the impressionable youth. They’re easily attracted to the latest trends and fashions, and the aesthetic of the Supreme logo never fails to draw them in.