Streetwear brand Supreme sold to VF Corp.

Alexis Canchola (left) and Jayson Garcia (right) pose while wearing Supreme hoodies. Alexis Canchola/Courtesy

The famous New York brand Supreme has officially been sold Monday morning to VF Corp., who also owns Vans and Timberlands. It was reported that VF paid up to $2.1 billion to founder James Jebbia.

“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,” said James Jebbia in a statement for VF. “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 is a streetwear brand founded in 1994 with 12 stores around the world. The brand is big enough to collaborate with many companies, including high-end brands such as Louis Vuitton and Comme Des Garcons, Nike, BAPE and Rolex. 

Not only has the brand been able to gain a cult-like following from many hypebeasts, but it has also caught the attention of numerous celebrities. Being able to make collabs with them as well, this includes singer Morrissey and boxer Mike Tyson. This also includes collaboration with big-name artists such as Kaws, Jean-Michael Basquiat and Takashi Murakami.  

Supreme has been able to gain such a large following due to its high demand and low exclusivity. With many pieces being sold for 10 times its original price, it caught the eye of VF. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Supreme to the VF family and to build on our decades-long relationship as we create value for all of our stakeholders,” said Steve Randle, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of VF in a statement. “VF is the ideal steward to honor the authentic heritage of this cultural lifestyle brand while providing the opportunity to leverage our scale and expertise to enable sustainable long-term growth.”

Although this is a new exciting opportunity for the two brands, many people are having doubts about this new opportunity for Supreme. Fans worry that its clothing will be saturated in the market, taking away what makes the brand so special, its rare exclusivity. 

“I see Supreme as a high-end skateboard brand that is special because it is so hard to get most of its pieces,” said Alexis Cancholla, a Supreme collector. “Other brands like Vans and Nike are cool, but anyone can walk into hundreds of stores and buy whatever they want from them. You can’t do that with Supreme, they only have four stores in the U.S. and 12 overall.”

Not only is this a worrisome problem to those who wear the famous red box logo brand, but it’s a problem to those who resell it. Resellers are infamous for buying Supreme and selling it for double, triple or more from its original price. If the brand loses what makes it so rare, those resale prices would become non-existent. 

“I buy Supreme because I like wearing it and because I can make a few hundred bucks from it,”  said reseller Jayson Garcia. “Supreme has already gotten harder to sell, with resell prices not as high at the moment. If they started to mass produce their clothes then they would be worth nothing in the resell market.” 

There is no information about Supreme being mass-produced as its fellow collaborator’s Vans and The North Face. However, many possibilities exist for the famous streetwear brand. 

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