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What Supreme’s $2.1 Billion Sale Means for Fashion

The skate brand founded by James Jebbia sold for $2.1 billion to VF Corp, which owns Vans, The North Face, Timberland, and Dickies. What can fashion learn from this mega sale?…

Even during a retail slump, high stakes fashion deals persist. After some turmoil, LVMH is moving forward with its acquisition of Tiffany. Alibaba and Richemont recently invested $300 million each in Farfetch, plus another $250 million to establish Farfetch China to create a global luxury fashion conglomerate. Supreme, the behemoth skateboarding company based in New York, is the latest fashion company acquired in a mega-deal: Today the brand announced its $2.1 billion sale to VF Corp, the company that owns Vans, The North Face, and Timberland—all frequent Supreme collaborators—and Dickie’s. 

“We are proud to join VF, a world-class company that is home to great brands we’ve worked with for years, including The North Face, Vans, and Timberland,” said Supreme’s founder James Jebbia in a statement. “This partnership will maintain our unique culture and independence, while allowing us to grow on the same path we’ve been on since 1994.” Prior to the VF Corp deal, Supreme sold a 50% stake in the brand to The Carlyle Group for $500 million in 2017. 

The news of the sale rippled through the fashion industry—and not just for its price tag. Supreme has long been a gold standard for success: Its uncompromising attitude to aesthetics, products, and customers won the brand a CFDA Award in 2018 and the envious eye of many of its competitors. Here, Vogue Runway breaks down what fashion can learn from Supreme’s ongoing success. 

Streetwear Is Far From Dead

While the term streetwear is overused, our collective preference for casual, fashionable clothing isn’t going anywhere. Supreme’s emphasis on unisex products like tees, hoodies, outerwear, and accessories like beanies, socks, hats, and skateboards, means it has broad appeal to consumers of all genders and age groups. 

The WFH era ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic has probably only made Supreme more covetable to consumers. If you are sitting at home all day, why not invest in stylish sweatpants or a fashionable hoodie? 

Supreme’s Direct-to-Consumer Model Looks Better Than Ever

The failing wholesale model has been the subject of much conversation during the pandemic, with a group of designers led by Dries Van Noten lobbying retailers to shift their delivery calendars and sales practices. In the United States, multi-brand stores have also taken a hit with Neiman Marcus declaring bankruptcy and beloved boutiques like Totokaelo and Jeffrey shuttering. Supreme has maintained a healthy customer flow. Much of that is thanks to its coveted product, but there’s also the fact that a bricks-and-mortar Supreme store and Supreme’s e-commerce site are the only places to buy official Supreme merchandise. 

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Entertainment

A$AP Rocky Turned An Entire Manchester City Kit Into His Album Rollout

A$AP Rocky at South by Southwest 2019
Photo: DannyB Photos / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

A$AP Rocky doesn’t do album rollouts quietly, and this one recruited an entire Premier League club to help. Manchester City, PUMA, and Rocky teamed up on a limited apparel run tied to “Don’t Be Dumb,” his 2026 album, timed around his September 5th show at Co-op Live.

The centerpiece is a long-sleeve PUMA King jersey in black and archive gold, with “DON’T BE DUMB” running down the sleeve and AWGE branding worked in throughout. A bold “MANCHESTER” graphic covers the back. Fans could also add limited “A$AP 11” name-and-number printing onto the club’s actual Home, Away, or Third kits, while supplies lasted at retail.

There’s a players-only version too, and it never went up for sale. That one sticks closer to City’s usual sky-blue identity, with its own sleeve detailing and back graphic — the kind of piece that exists purely because a handful of people got lucky.

The whole rollout kicked off with a one-night pop-up on September 4th, when PUMA turned a spot in Manchester’s Northern Quarter into a pop-up cafe for the night, mixing football, music, and street style into one room before the wider release hit the stadium store the next morning. Some of those jerseys even came with golden tickets to the concert or that Saturday’s match.

Rocky has called the project true to his own design language, and it’s not even his only club collaboration this cycle — a similar drop with AC Milan landed around the same time. At this point, the line between fashion week and matchday has basically disappeared.

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Quavo And Lids Are Going All In On Atlanta With Their New Cap Pack

Quavo photographed in 2019
Photo: Finish Line / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Quavo has never been shy about his hat obsession, and Lids just gave him another outlet for it. Their new “Atlanta” pack drops September 12th, marking another round in a partnership that’s been running strong since 2019.

The collection is a love letter to the city, spread across three very different caps. One mashes up pinstripes, script lettering, and Braves branding into a single design, working navy, red, white, and light blue into the mix. Another goes the opposite direction entirely — fully iced out in crystal detailing, done up in black and red, with both the Falcons and the Braves showing up in the design. The third strips things back to an old-school “ATL” trucker cap in red, white, and gold, the kind of understated piece that lets the city’s name do the talking.

None of this is new territory for Quavo. He’s talked before about waiting on hat releases as a kid, and that same excitement seems to be what’s kept this partnership going years past most celebrity collabs. His earlier Lids run leaned on one moment — the Braves’ 1995 World Series win — but this pack pulls from the city’s whole sports history instead of just one highlight.

Lids has called Quavo one of the rare voices who can blend music, fashion, and sports without it feeling forced, and this drop backs that up. Given how fast his past releases have moved, Atlanta might want to set an alarm for September 12th.

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