Do we still need Supreme?

Hype or not hype? For years now, the streetwear world has been divided between those who have decided to repudiate Supreme and those who want to remain faithful to the James Jebbia brand. Going from hero to villain of an entire community is not a trivial matter, especially if you have been among the names that that community have formed and watched it grow. Well before the arrival of VF Corp, the golden halo around Supreme seemed to have disappeared, replaced by a badly concealed indifference to drops and collabo of the brand, all too similar and repetitive according to some.

Although a certain lack of ideas is undeniable, on the other hand there is the objective reality of a brand that always ends up selling out most of its items, still constituting a milestone not only for those resellers ready to resell the box. logo at a tripled price, but also of that segment of the public still interested in the brand. In a world like that of streetwear in constant flux, Supreme has managed to carve out its space within the community, passing from a brand for the few to a mass phenomenon, ending up perhaps returning to its starting position with a partially unchanged charm. and still able to attract the attention of the street world.

In a world of fashion oriented towards sustainability and recycling, what future can a brand still have anchored to the model of weekly drops? It will be the market to say it, but above all it will be the strategy that VF Corp will implement in the coming years: if officially the group led by Steve Rendle does not intend to affect the soul of the brand, on the other it has openly declared that it wants to expand the business by strengthening online and focusing on China. The real challenge, however, will be to regenerate interest in the brand, now crushed by the rise of the basic and by an idea that now seems old and outdated. With the opening of the Milanese store close at hand, we have returned to question ourselves on the role and future of Supreme in streetwear and in hype culture. We did it in the first episode of the second season of The SneakerPod, the podcast of nss magazine produced in collaboration with StockX.