James Jebbia, who was born in the United States but raised in England, created the Supreme name. (Greene 56). One of the first shops to sell apparel, accessories, and skateboards along Manhattan's Lafayette Street was this one. It is well renowned for its punk rock, hip-hop, and skateboarding scenes. A bigger portion of the youth population, primarily males, will participate in this. Given that Supreme offers a lot of clothing and shoes on the secondary market, there is a high demand for its products. Its original shop layout was created in the past with a distinct skating culture in mind. (Greene 256). This was aimed at satisfying consumer needs with a large central space where skaters could skate inside the shop and still comfortable. The users receive the best products and services that make them to shop regularly. Fashion and design seem to be changing at Supreme thus the long queues at the entrance. Whereby customers are seen waiting at the door minutes to the opening of the store (Lavergne 234). Supremes’ brands sell themselves out since it contains rare and highly coveted products. Ever since its opening, supreme has a taste for fashion, therefore, maintain its brand in culture in the world of style. Despite the availability of well-known competitors like Vans, it has maintained the great communicator of fine art in the industry (Lavergne 234).
Supreme has transformed from a small shop to a Superpower cultural store with many customers stopping over to find accessories that would fit them because of the trademark. Most these customers queues to purchase new releases. It is believed that no other fashion logo contains this type of commitment. Customer obsession originates from evident outfits that the clients on the queue portray. It is evident that every Thursday, people who queue at the shop are dressed in T-shirts and hoodies (Lavergne 20). The demand for Supreme's products is exclusive in customer's taste and preference. Kids wearing Supreme's products exemplify the utmost significant psychological element to the products' achievement.
Long lines at the outfits' entrance arise because of how customers view their products to be authentic or legit. Some customers believe that the original wearers of these products were realistic rather than trendy. Supreme's products have no history of being branded as fake or counterfeits. They have zero occurrences of being branded as a delivering false reality or lacking ownership of their self.
Types of Customers at Supreme
People all over the world, especially in the New York, seem to be obsessed with Supreme products because the productions are distributed extensively across all customer types. Although their products are made for skaters, different kinds of people have shown interest in their products. The brand appeals to a much wider audience than other shops in Downtown Manhattan since it was launched.
Let’s begin with why tourists have shown an interest in Supreme products. They have portrayed a culture of stopping by the shop in packs where they seem to pull out cigarettes written ‘Fumer tue.' Some are seen in skateboard shirts and hoodies with Supremes' logo. This indicates why they have to travel all the way to the store to obtain a product of their choice.
Internet Alt girls have been seen around with Twill Camp Caps especially the corny ones. Everyone on social media talks about these girl’s outfits ranking themselves as fashionable girls with suburb vibes (Codey 85). Internet Alt girls wear Supreme’s looks and outfit especially while skating so that they can meet up cute boys who seem to be surfing down the street.
Hype beasts have also been seen lining up at the shop every Wednesday night till the next morning. Someone would wonder why they queue overnight just for an outfit, but it's because they want to be the first clients to pick new products just produced for sale. The items provided are of high quality and appropriate to serve the intended purpose. These types of customers would fake a sick or school off for the sake of grabbing the hottest outfits. Another type of people obsessed with Supreme is Scalpers (Codey 189). They got an intention of buying these products and selling them off to other consumers for five times the price. They are very conical because they have zero desire in the dear.
Asians are obsessed with Supreme’s fashion and culture since they have been looking stunning in these attires for ages now. Most of them pick products from the shop and sell them in other markets like in rural China and Philippine. Some Asian customers recommend their relatives who want to have a taste of the Supreme's fashion.
Skaters are the most loyal customers at the store starting with those skating down the street. Since skaters surround the shop, most of them are seen shopping for unique skateboards and gear appropriate for skating (Codey 120). I wonder why they don’t shop in other sprees available downtown, but it could be because of fashion taste.
Business Practices
Supreme has attained its level of prosperity and popularity due to its professional practices that most entrants perceive to be inconceivable. For Instance, if an item sells well at the shop, Supreme finds a plan of not producing it again. Therefore, they stop selling it and never produce it in the market (Lavergne 256). This makes the shop to deal with the brand whose accessories become more expensive from time to time, unlike other entrants who keep on selling a product over and over again once it sells out.
Business strategy at Supreme is simple which they have been applying this entire period. The internet has been used to add the propagation of the streetwear gear in the current times. James and his team aim is to ensure that their products become instantly cool and fresh when a client picks them up. Their principle to success is indefinable but well received, reproducing many biters and poorly understood replications. Many duplicates have led to the production of poor quality products in the industry. James refers to his business as a skate-culture driven brand that meets street attire cultural reserve and guerilla marketing. Since I am situated in the heart of SoHo, it applies a retail operation. It is a regular place for tastemakers and cultural fanatics. Therefore, the suggested business strategy works towards delivering the enthusiasts desire of fashion and culture (Lavergne 234). Like any other business, aiming at critical satisfaction generates quality and quality returns.
Business Model
Apart from the publicity and iconic imprinting, Supreme is entrenched deeply in their business model. It entails convention, direct to consumers and consignment that attracts scores of people who encampments most of its surroundings (Marsh 23). The model is well-defined by unpretentious economics where demands offset supplies significantly. In this case, when demand rise supplies become more treasured though, supplies will never increase to meet demand (Marsh 27). This is in contrast to other brands, who restock products for goods that sell out well (Marsh 67). James uses this limited edition to retain their profits and not share them out with customers. They try and make accessories affordable to customers, unlike brand imitators who sell brands at five times the price.
Convention involves the use of gleaners to vend their products to multitudes of enthusiasts in person. It is not a new model to Supreme but existed in 2000, though new to the cloth and footwear market. Supreme benefits from this model by providing customers an opportunity to trade or window-shop products. This method aims to avoid unsafe meet-ups from false collectors (Marsh 45).
The reason why people get obsessed with Supreme because it is streetwear brand and it holds a big position in the industry. Supreme doesn't spend millions of dollars on the modern fashion and technology. Their products are reliable and have existed in the market for an extended period. They have been around since 1964, thus building up over time. This means that they have maintained their business model of not restocking newest products for years.
The Internet and Social media
Supreme applies different social media strategies that help them achieve great outcomes. Although setting them can be tough, the store has maintained popular trends in reaching consumers expansively. Supreme greatly uses the social media as a marketing strategy for its services and products on the internet.
The comprehensively used website is Sup Talk that is fundamentally a subculture for Supreme. It is the largest platform with numerous members outstanding others sites in Europe. In this particular location, Supreme customers are found from skaters to hype beasts. You’ll find many denominations of Supreme followers and rich old kids. This generation will always buy all types of clothing and accessories. For instance, rich old kids are interested in concrete caps or island jackets and t-shirts with certain logos.
Sup Talk users chat about their desired forthcoming outfits every drop day. An example of a well-discussed item was the snake kin shoe that was released months before a customer visited a shop. This shoe received a hype of comments within multi seconds retailing for 130 dollars. Once Supreme produces releases a particular stock in the electronic market, it sells out as soon as it appears. To maintain this criterion, supreme sticks to the model that, "once it's gone' it's gone" (Davis 34). The site works in a manner that once the product appears again, it retails for a price more than the original price.
Instagram is the perfect platform used for street wear as a marketing strategy. Since Instagram is highly influential, most cool kids have opted join the trend and keep it moving. Teens say that since everyone else s posting and hits 500 likes in the process, then they must rock in these outfits like their peers. Kids are hunting for something unique that no one else will own, at the same time posting it for likes (Davis 56).
Customers wait in line outside the Supreme store due to Instagram and because it is easy to use. The site targets potential millions of users where the shop trades most of its merchandise. Instagram is not just a place of photos for Supreme, but a site for the most demanded gear. On this site, resellers find an opportunity to sell, buy and trade their items. Nevertheless, it has substituted eBay due to the availability of its entire storefront on the internet (Davis 96). It is cheaper and easier to use method it has taken the leading position in the e-commerce market. Instagram works in a simple manner whereby Supreme posts a picture and gives clients an opportunity to text back about the most interesting items.
Supreme has used eBay for quite some time to reach the secondary market for its products. It's the most trusted formula in providing a safer marketplace for the customer to customer services. However, the site has been engulfed with counterfeits and resellers who are trying to reduce returns for Supreme in vain.
Of late, the fashion domain has been waking up to Supreme regardless of its opening as a male-focused initiative. This is the reason it has maintained the long queues targeting youth cultures and girl skaters (Codey 45). Customers stay loyal to Supreme because it is a neutral attitude towards dressing and living. Instagram pictures living and partying in supreme products, posted on the internet have added fuel to the fire at Supreme. The founder of the store feels like they have large numbers of people because the fashions they produce is like music. Customers have loyal and passionate devotion towards their products because they understand their target population. This is respectful of living standards or clients intelligence. The long queues are because they know what their consumers need, thus maintaining the real ambition of the brand (Codey 65). It is evident that nothing at the store was deliberate, its customer obsession is a concurrence of time, place and hard work. Jebbia’s business history of hard work is the perfect reason why he placed the store along Lafayette Street. He placed the show along this street because of his first employers who were cool-opinionated kids and who loved skateboarding. This was with the aim of capturing designers from Europe and uptown to bring a sense of fashion to his shop. Within no time, his change of fashion in the skating culture became famous due to its uniqueness (Codey 65).
In conclusion, customers from the world have assurance and confidence in Supreme’s fashion. Nobody wants to wear an outfit that has a repeated fashion history. This is because a company’s brand contributes to the psychological view of a company’s image. If a store controls its image, then it stands a chance to remain successful in the industry, disrespectful of how many shops they launch along the way. Customers all over the world are interested in design consistency. This is the secret Supreme has held on over the years making customers stay obsessed with their products. Despite these continual flows of customers, Supreme is facing slow physical growth since in the past six years it has only launched two branches. This can be solved through reaching many populations like it is doing currently.
Work Cited
Codey, Kathleen. "Convenience and Lower Prices, but at What Cost: Watching Closely as Discount Superstores Creep into Manhattan." JL & Poly 13 (2005): 249.
Davis, Joshua Clark. "The business of getting high: head shops, countercultural capitalism, and the marijuana legalization movement." The Sixties 8.1 (2015): 27-49.
Greene, K. J. "Idea Theft: Frivolous Copyright-Lite Claims, or Hollywood Business Model?." (2015).
Lavergne, Michael. Fixing Fashion: Rethinking the Way We Make, Market and Buy Our Clothes. New Society Publishers, 2015.
Marsh, Lisa. The House of Klein: Fashion, controversy, and a business obsession. John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
