What do you come up with when you hear the word, Supreme? Probably, many people would think of ‘Supreme’, a famous street brand with a white logo in a red box. Supreme has become a worldwide mania, collaborating with Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Comme des Garcons. Supreme, however, faces a trademark war with ‘Supreme Italia’, a knock-off company. Surprisingly, the beginning of the trademark war is related to James Jebbia, founder of Supreme.

 

          James Jebbia was a young boy who was interested in trendy fashion. He enjoyed buying clothes in London Streets. His interests in fashion led him to move to New York. Starting his career as a fashion designer, he worked with Shawn Stussy, which is another street fashion brand. Running the Stussy store in New York, he fell in love with skateboarding culture. It was the beginning of Supreme, a street fashion brand for skateboarders. In fact, there were skateboarding zones in Supreme stores, which made Supreme an azit for skateboarders. With extraordinary efforts by him, Supreme became a symbol of street fashion.

          The beginning of Supreme, however, led itself into the chaos of a trademark war. The logo of Supreme, which is a white letter in a red box, was inspired by Barbara Kruger, according to James Jebbia. Because the word ‘Supreme’ is used daily, he said it is hard to register its symbol as a trademark. At that moment, ‘Supreme Italia’ is a knock-off company that has already registered its logo in 64 countries, including Europe and China. Samsung even canceled its collaboration with Supreme as the Supreme they contracted with turned out to be ‘Supreme Italia’.

 

          Supreme still captivates and inspires many people, breaking several sold-out records in every collaboration with other brands. Recently, Supreme and its law team started to protect its symbol, suing Supreme Italia in various countries, however, it seems to be late. Is it possible for Supreme to protect its symbol against a knock-off? CAH looks forward to Supreme’s strong action towards its symbol.