Supreme is a high-end streetwear brand that focuses on fashion, culture, and politics. They are known for their elaborate advertising campaigns and attention to detail in promoting their products.
Supreme was founded in New York City in 1991 by three fashion designers. They created the collection to share with influential people and fans around the world, which it does.
Today, it has over 200 retail locations worldwide, including high-end stores such as Barneys and Nordstrom. It also has a line of clothing sold at Target, Dickie’s Grocery, and Amazon Fashion.
The collection is split into four themes: war, power, race, and revolution; the first three of which represent the four designers. These represent what they were about while creating the collection.
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Limited quantities
Although Supreme is always having new pieces drop, you will still have to keep buying them if you want to look and feel the best possible.
This is because there are a limited number of Supreme products that are authorized for purchase through brick and mortar stores as well as online retailers. These include the Supreme x Nike shoes, clothing, and merchandise.
To ensure demand does not decrease, new products are released regularly. The latest addition is the bag, which looks like a carapace with legs. It appears to be made out of stone or leather, but you can forget about using it for anything unless it was specifically designed for it.
These limited supply schedules make fashion hard, because you must constantly buy new things or receive a reduction in your current piece to keep up with what I called The Men’s Shop™™.
Brand recognition
A well-recognized brand name or a prominent features area makes a product more expensive. It increases its value which you have to pay for!
When you buy a product from a different brand, it is because you have seen or known of the product enough to know that it is worth spending money on it.
You must consider how much you spend on your product and how much you value the difference in price, so do not automatically raise the cost of your products.
Some things are too expensive even when bought in cheaper quantities than others. If you were spending too little money on them, they would be free!
Things that are expensive in large quantities may not be worth buying in front of a person because they do not understand the difference in price.
Pushes consumerism
While most brands that are very expensive are purchased for their aesthetic or historical value, Supreme is no ordinary brand. It has created a name and legacy off of consumerism.
By creating highly sought-after, highly decorated products that are hard to find, Supreme creates more of a “want to buy” attitude in the consumer. This can be very positive!
However, with such high prices being paid by consumers for these products, it also comes with a cost. For example, the cost of the jacket pictured above would be around $250 USD!
While this may not seem like much money at first glance, when looking at it from a purchasing standpoint, it is. When you take into account what people must spend money on when they purchase new material goods, this seems like an enormous amount of money to me.
High-quality fabric
A relatively new fashion trend is leather jackets. These are very fashionable pieces that can go from work or school formal to just a night on the town.
Many people purchase leather jackets because of the quality material they are made with. Some are very heavy duty and protect you well in case it got wet or warmer than expected.
Another appeal of a leather jacket is that it looks expensive. Many buy them through online sites and purchase them at a higher price than if they had been purchased in store. This adds more value to it!
To ensure you get the best quality leather for your jacket, look for durable companies that make light-weight leather jackets.
Replicas are often sold
There are several ways replica watches are purchased today. You can go to a luxury clothing store where they display their replicated watches on a watch spectrum from cheap to very expensive. You can buy a replica watch through the internet, through auction sites like eBay, or through traditional retail stores.
Most of the time, when you purchase a replica watch at an online auction or shop, it is still very expensive. You do not get that same level of customization and quality control that comes with buying a real Rolex or counterfeit Rolex at an online auction.
But if you were to buy a real Rolex at an offline store, let’s say Sears or Amazon, then it would be cheaper! The shipping and assembly cost would be higher, but the end product would be better.
Online resellers
Reseller platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Amazon seller Central have made it easy for a person to start resale trading. With just a little work, you can begin to make some money.
However, there are more fees associated with selling through these platforms. Most of these fees are hidden and not easily viewed. For instance, on the Amazon seller platform you must pay the Reseller Program fee of $19 per month plus an active affiliate account fee of $2 per transaction which is added together as a single fee.
This may not seem like much of a fee at first but once you add up all of these small fees it can add up to some big bills.
Staff salaries
As far as salaries go, Supreme is pretty low-compared to other luxury fashion brands. Its Chief Officer and Chief Brand Officer both receive a reported compensation of $1 million per year.
Its Creative Director receives a reported compensation of $200,000 per year. These numbers might seem low at first, but this is due to the fact that most employees are part of the company family.
Since everyone works together and has to collaborate with each other, they have to mutually agree on salary expectations. Since many work for free, their salary can be low.
The company does not have a formal job description; everyone just says they are Supreme because they want to be hired by Supreme! As stated before, having small staffs can affect price point due to shipping fees and customer service fees which people need to take out of their salary.
Retail spaces
A retail space is a large, purposeful area where people can go to shop, gather, and/or just be. There are two kinds of retail spaces: storefronts and places like malls or downtown shopping centers that combine a store with the public space.
Typically, a store has a location for its brand, one or more public spaces where people can walk through designated areas to visit the store, and a warehouse or stockroom where products are stored.
The public space is where people come to socialize or congregate while they shop. This can be done in a friendly or hostile manner, depending on who is shopping.
Many times shops do not talk about their spaces – it is like they have to go into business mode and pressure-coat themselves with money! People need to realize that being private does not mean you do not need to market yourself.