Client Profile
Supreme is an American skateboarding shop and clothing brand established in New York City in April 1994. The brand was founded by James Jebbia. In addressing Supreme’s community of consumers, it is important to look at the evolution of the brand’s identity and the effects it has on a sociological level. That being said, for the majority of its twenty two year existence, Supreme was dedicated to “a select crew of blunt-puffing skate urchins, graffiti artists, underground filmmakers and rappers” (Williams), yet has since transformed to one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
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Supreme opened its first store in New York which forever became a symbolism of skate culture. Surrounded by the growth of skate culture but not at all interested in it himself, James Jebbia the man behind the brand created Supreme to attract the younger generation at the time. “It wasn’t part of my world, but I knew it was very rebellious. It felt right, and I liked it.” (Jebbia, 2012) started Jebbia in discussion of the background of Supreme. James kickstarted his career by moving to New York from London at the age of 19 where he immediately landed a job making backpacks. It was on from here that James decided to open his first store UNION in 1989 where he bonded and created a
kKGROUND ground strong relationship with Shawn Stussy the designer of the brand Stussy. Watching the Stussy brand grow inspired James to build his own brand, acting as a catalyst for the creation of Supreme. “At the time, a lot of young people were getting into skating and Supreme was short of a hangout for them”(Jebbia, 2013). Now the brand releases a collection every thursday of the new season and are often one of the most hyed events in the world of fashion with customers queing for hours just to get their hands on the latest collection.
Whilst the brand started off as only small, over 26 years the brand has expanded and succesfully evolved into a luxury streetwear brand that “empasses fashion, music, skateboarding and art” (Rajendran, 2012) and has became an embodiment of New York culture. The brand will continue to grow as they repeatedly colaborating with a range of world’s best known designers, artists and musicians to further propel the brands uniqueness and popularity amongst the younger generation. Since them Supreme has also opened stores in Tokyo, London, and Paris is viewed by GQ style as “the coolest streetwear brand in the world right now”. (Abbott, 2017).
Demog DEMO Ever since opening their doors in 1994, Supreme has become a cult brand with a strong presence in the world of style. The brand caters to the skateboarding and hip hop cultures as well as to youth culture in general. The brand appeals to consumers between the ages of 16-35 years old that thrive on underground trend currents. It started as a male-focused enterprise but recently has been co-opted by women mirroring both the rise of girl skaters and youth culure’s impressively genderless approach to dressing and living.
graphics OGRAPHICS The target customers would likely to have a creative job such as graphic design or marketing. In terms of salary, due to the price of the clothes the customers is expected to have a disposable income of around 800 ppm however this does not seem to be the case all the time. Looking at the psychographics it is clear that their customers lifestyle is “skate urchins, graffiti artists, underground film makers and rappers” .
Supreme’s core consumer belonging to the subcultural communities lives in the urban areas in economically developed countries. According to Alexa.com 45% of Supreme’s online visitiors are from the United States of America, followed by Japan at 14% and the United Kingdom at 5%.
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Psycho PSYCHO Supreme has a diverse history of collaborations with various skateboard and fashion brands as well as with celebrities and artists which makes it so popular among the subcultural communities of like minded peole. The brand attracts a particular lifestyle. This can be seen in their target consumers which often have varying interests within the arts, and many of which wish to pursue a career in fashion or music.
ographics OGRAPHICS The primary music taste of Supreme shoppers is urban rap or hip hop, secondary being rock and metal. “I really love the [Supreme] collaborations because they are a little bit of history and a collectible moment. They are like Pokémon cards for adults - something to get excited about in a childish way.” Jodie Harsh, Londonbased DJ music producer and promoter.
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Beha BEHA The characteristics of Generation Z and Millenials that appreciated uniqueness and diversity in their stylistic and shopping tendencies fit so well with the brand and aid in it’s longevity within the fashion realm. While Supreme’s fan base can be physically seen standing on the streets awaiting a Thursday collection drop, another subculture can be seen on the web. An average customer buys more than one item at every visit to the store. Most of them pre plan on what to buy as the exotic collections have a very high resale value in the seconhand market which are usually priced at around ten times the original value.
aviourr AVIOUR The consumers proudly exposes their identity and loyalty as they line the block around the store, awaiting the brand to drop a new collection every Thursday which adds a certain value to the brand.
Source
wikipedia.org vogue.com reddit.com racked.com businessoffashion.com gq-magazine.co.uk nytimes.com
Image credit
Angel G. on Unsplash JoĂŁo Silas on Unsplash Jessica Radanavong on Unsplash TokyoFashion.com Caio Christofoli from Pexels Financial Times vogue.com thesource.com ofpoison.com
