First there was the unlikely colab, now rumour has it one of the world’s best known fashion houses, Louis Vuitton, has snapped up skater favourite Supreme for a cool £400m.
Unsatisfied with what’s being described as one of the biggest collaborations of the year, industry insiders have told Highsnobiety that luxury goods megabrand LVMH – which owns Vuitton – has bought out the skate apparel label.
LVMH already owns Dior, Fendi and Givenchy and fashionistas are now abuzz that it has added one of the world’s best known streetwear brands to its portfolio. The fashion chatter has partly been fueled by the recent announcement of the departure of Supreme Brand Director Angelo Baque. Multinational LVMH consistently boast seriously impressive revenues, which topped £29bn in 2015.
Opening its first store in downtown Manhattan in 1994, Supreme has built a name for itself with wacky publicity stunts. Last year, the brand sold clay bricks (yes, a brick) with the brand’s name on and fans fell over themselves to grab one. Each was priced at $30 (£24) and had sold out in minutes. They later appeared on eBay for as much as $1,000 (£800).
Naturally, the other aspect of such an acquisition is what the move – read: sucking from the teat of one of the world’s biggest fashion empires – might mean for Supreme’s credibility, having long been cultivated in such an outsider, ‘fuck you’ atmosphere.
We’ve no word on whether it’s true or not, but don’t be surprised to see hordes of angry skaters heading down to Regent Street in the coming weeks.
