Happy days are here again.
And we’re back. Extreme sports a rocket ship to untold fortunes. Surf, skate n snow growth markets with the only the only ceiling being our imaginations. But did you see the wonderful news this morning? VF Corporation, parent company of Vans, has acquired Supreme for $2.1 billion dollars.
Billion with a b.
And we haven’t seen this sort of action since Quiksilver purchased Rossignol skis for $589 million dollars in 2005, which is $785 million in today’s dollars.
According to the Business of Fashion, “Supreme is often dubbed the ‘Chanel’ of streetwear, scaling its cult brand from a single store that popped up in 1994 on New York’s Lafayette Street into a global business that catapulted into the high-fashion scene via blockbuster tie-ups with names like Louis Vuitton.”
You may recall the brands very exclusive drops, including a clay brick that goes for $159 today, a black sweatshirt that goes for $1600 today, a Rolex Submariner that is more or less priceless, etc.
James Jebbia, Supreme’s founder and genius, will stay on with the brand.
Per the press release:
“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. 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,” said Steve Rendle, VF’s Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. “The acquisition of the Supreme® brand is further validation of our vision and strategy to further evolve our portfolio of brands to align with the total addressable market opportunities we see driving the apparel and footwear sector. The Supreme® brand will further accelerate VF’s hyper-digital business model transformation and will be a meaningful driver of VF’s commitment to top quartile total shareholder return and long-term value creation.”
And do you have any Supreme in your closet? A fan or indifferent?
Happy days are here again.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Possibly because I am reading on an IPad , like a TV than vertically on a phone ?
Yes but there seems to be so much more white background and less of the dark stuff we all know and love , as if the letters were afraid of each other and moving , like the universe …. apart ?
And I thought it was because you were Dr Hot Spicy Pizza Surfer Girl Dude ..wink
Now that’s reselling
Gonna be rad ! Write off of half of that purchase price within …what …5 years? Check out the VF wiki page. Shows image of a skanky Eastpak wallet. Excellent brand management
PS extra douchey is my misbegotten friend who took a Supreme sticker and chopped it to Sup’me on the back of his pickup. Janitors got to janit I guess
Ye auld and venerable Times Roman is making a comeback !
Huh it’s shitty little bogan brand in west Oz
The quiet achiever.
is there a set point where “creating quality for our customers” becomes “creating value for our share holders”? and how many zeros does it have?
Nice money wash.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Tapping into Lenny’s team, bigger move than Laird super-creamer.
Laird stock tanking. Check it
“What a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers, I make my work about this kind of sadly foolish farce. I’m waiting for all of them to sue me for copyright infringement.” – Barbara Kruger
As I push the rock I’ve been hiding under to the side to read this story, I ask myself, what is Supreme?
And I stopped buying Vans when I quit skating as the lack of arch support is hell on plantar F.
Good on them for fleecing another company though.
I’m grateful you also pushed the rock aside to come chat at nocnir
Supreme is the Lil’ Pump of “streetwear”
Sorry – * Lil’ Pimp*
I’ve walked by it a bunch of times and even from that I couldn’t figure out what they were selling. (This might sound weird but that neighbourhood is packed with little storefronts that are so painfully trendy that any actual retail offers are deemphasized to the point of invisibility.) They spend a ton on street advertising but all it is is the red “Supreme” logo. Most mysterious.
I suggest doing what I do and continuing to walk and turn left on Prince and dogleg onto Rivington and end up at Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Best cupcakes around and not at hipster prices either. Very straightforward offering, “here are some pieces of paper”, “here are some tasty things to eat”, “my, these are much yummier than pieces of paper or bricks”.
I walked past their store on Fairfax a few years ago and there was a line around the block. New shoes were being released. Made me feel very uncool, which is true. Then I smoked a joint on the street and watched.
If you got em , smoke em …. how good could those shoes be to make citizens of Wall St , queue up in NY as if they were standing in line , waiting for bread in Soviet 1970 Vladivostok …
“Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.
-Words of Muad’dib by Princess Irulan.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah
https://uploads.disquscdn.c… Iconic
The brand had better days – that’s one one them
Shaolin’s finest.
Well using the Chas economic model Jen, you and I can buy Apple, Alphabet and lets say Net Jets to simplify travel. Or even simpler we just buy the whole S&P .
The only reason I have heard of this brand is from my kids. Never really understood what it is as they don’t really appear to have any products other than clothing so what the hell is it really?
Apparently they also sell bricks, so maybe they’re diversifying their business to include a range of other building materials with the aim of becoming more like Home Depot etc…
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Claiming revenue of 500 mil a year. Pays for itself in 4!
Goes broke in 5…
Revenue is not profit, I hope your wife handles the money in your household and has you on an allowance.
I guess you’re the only one here that doesn’t already know that Chas’s wife is a hugely wealthy pot dealer that funds BG and his vodka so he can sit around yakking to the commentariat all day.
She sounds like a great woman.
I’m not a jealous guy, but am definitely in awe of Chas for pulling off this coup…
Ahaha, excellent!
I am surprised their revenue is not higher. Every other black or Latino kid in L.A. county has been rocking Vans for the last 8-10 years. Add that to all the 40+ year old pop punk dudes from Orange and San Diego counties that still wear them and the revenue should be higher!!!
VF Corp revenue is + or – 14b USD.
4 years is a long time in fashion