Supreme

The brand was founded in 1994 by American-British businessman and fashion designer James Jebbia. During the formation of the brand, Jebbia was inspired by a book on Barbara Kruger's artwork, which influenced the design of Supreme's red box logo with a white Futura Heavy Oblique font.

The first store was opened in a former office space on Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan in April 1994. It featured a layout that accommodated skateboarding and a selection of clothes arranged around the store's perimeter. The store's first employees included skaters and actors, such as Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter, as well as other cast members from the Larry Clark film Kids. Jebbia said that he opened Supreme in Lower Manhattan because there were few options for buying skateboarding products in that area at the time.

In 2004, a second location was opened on North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. This store was nearly double the size of the original New York City store. Other locations include London, which opened in September 2011; Paris, which opened in 2016; Tokyo (Harajuku, Daikanyama and Shibuya); Nagoya; Osaka; and Fukuoka. More recently, Berlin and Milan opened in 2021, Chicago opened in 2022, Seoul opened in 2023, and Shanghai opened in 2024. The additional locations emulate the original Lafayette Street store's design.

In February 2019, Supreme moved their flagship store at 274 Lafayette Street to a new location at 190 Bowery. In November 2020, VF Corporation announced that they agreed to buy Supreme in an all-cash deal for $2.1 billion. VF Corporation bought out all outside investors, as well as founder James Jebbia. In 2024, Supreme was sold to the eyewear company and Ray-Ban owner, EssilorLuxottica, in July 2024 for $1.5 billion. Jebbia continues to manage the business.

Supreme stocks its own clothing label, as well as other skateboard and footwear brands such as Vans, Nike SB, Spitfire Wheels, Thrasher, and Anti-Hero. Supreme releases two collections each year. Instead of offering the entire line at once, the brand releases small groups of products online and in-store from the current season's collection every Thursday. Supreme invented this retail model known as "drops", which is now widely used in the industry.

William "Bill" Strobeck serves as Supreme's main filmmaker and produced several short films for the brand including Joyride (2014), Swoosh (2015), and King Puppy (2016). Strobeck has filmed and directed both of Supreme's full-length films, Cherry (2014) and Blessed (2018). In 2018, Supreme was awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Menswear Designer of the Year Award.In July 2024, supreme was described as a digital first business with 17 retail stores across the United States,Asia and a Europe

Legal disputes

In 2013, Supreme sued Leah McSweeney and her brand Married to the Mob for alleged infringement of its box logo. McSweeney was represented by civil-rights attorney Norman Siegel. Artist Barbara Kruger criticized the dispute, and the case was voluntarily dismissed after three months.

Supreme has also faced international trademark conflicts. A brief period of litigation in Italy and an early EU refusal allowed some non-official "Supreme" goods to be sold in Europe, and a 2018 partnership between Samsung Electronics and a counterfeit "Supreme" brand in China was quickly canceled after backlash. In 2019–2020, the European Union Intellectual Property Office granted Supreme EU-wide trademark protection.