James Jebbia

James Jebbia opened the first Supreme store at 274 Lafayette Street in Manhattan in April 1994. The store originally focused on skateboarding hardware and apparel, targeting the downtown New York skate scene. Jebbia had previously co-founded the streetwear brand Union NYC in 1989 and worked at Stüssy before launching Supreme.

VF Corporation, owner of brands like Vans and The North Face, acquired Supreme for approximately $2.1 billion in a deal completed in December 2020. The acquisition valued Supreme at roughly $2.1 billion including debt, with Jebbia and the leadership team staying on to run the brand. VF later sold Supreme to EssilorLuxottica in 2024 for approximately $1.5 billion.

Before founding Supreme, James Jebbia co-founded Union NYC, a streetwear boutique in Manhattan that opened in 1989, and he worked at the Stüssy store in New York. At Union, he partnered with Mary Ann Fusco and sold imported British streetwear and emerging American brands. These experiences in retail and streetwear culture gave him the foundation to launch Supreme as a skate-focused brand.

James Jebbia was born in the United States but spent much of his youth in England, giving him dual exposure to American and British culture. He was born in 1963 and moved to England as a teenager before returning to the U.S. in his twenties. His time in the UK influenced Supreme's early aesthetic, which drew heavily on British skate, punk, and mod subcultures.