Inside Supreme's Underground Reselling Economy (Sold Out Pt. 1)
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In 1994, James Jebbia opened the first Supreme location in a small storefront on Lafayette Street in New York. At the time, Supreme was a brand for skaters by skaters—even the design for the shop was more open so skaters could come right in with their skateboards. But today, 21 years later, Supreme is a legendary streetwear brand that’s cultivated a cult following well beyond that original fan base. Continuing to release product in tightly controlled, limited amounts, the brand is as big as it wants to be in New York, Los Angeles, and London; a titan in Japan—arguably its largest market. Complex has covered Supreme for well over a decade (Complex was founded in 2002). Most of it was from afar; we wrote about releases or lookbooks. But for the last year or so, our Complex News team has been reporting from the Lafayette Street shop to cover in-store launches. Every story was the same: Lines snaked around the block, kids camped out for hours or days, sometimes even in subfreezing temperatures, just to get any Supreme item. Each Thursday drop was chaos. In April 2014, the NYPD canceled the Supreme x Nike Air Foamposite One in-store launch at the NYC flagship after a riot nearly broke out earlier that day. But there was something much bigger here. We learned that many were in line to purchase gear that they’d later flip online for big profits, selling apparel and other items for as much as 1,200 percent above retail value. “We started to get to know these people and realized there was a business here and real money to be made,” explains Emily Oberg, Complex Editorial Producer and one of the directors of this documentary. While the reselling market is hardly new, and people have been selling Supreme online for years, it’s yet to be the focus of serious investigation—until now. The first episode of Sold Out: The Underground Economy of Supreme Resellers lays the foundation for the story at hand. Legendary writer Glenn O’Brien, along with top menswear editors, make sense of the hype around Supreme and explain the brand’s success. We also introduce you to the world of Supreme reselling where $40 T-shirts can be upsold to $500. Chief Content Officer: Noah Callahan-Bever Executive Producer: Marc Fernandez Director of Video Production: Justin Lundstrom Producers: Emily Oberg, Davy Gomez, Cornell Brown, Ross Scarano Associate Producers: Xavier Andrews, Olga Encarnacion Directors: Davy Gomez, Emily Oberg Writer: Emily Oberg, James Harris Editor & Cinematographer Davy Gomez Tokyo Cinematographer: David Allen Los Angeles Cinematographer: Natalie Edgar London Cinematographer: Beatriz Sastre Drone Operator: Gladimir Nym Colorist Courtney Feemster Music Supervisor: Emily Oberg Graphics: Brent Rollins, Jonathan Fouabi Animation: Chi Chuang Researchers: Kajal Patel, Asim Ismael Sound Mixer: Speedy Morman Production Assistants: Kajal Patel, John Tashiro, Marques Leonard Footage Courtesy of: Mass Appeal, Flatbush Zombies, NBC News, Freshness Mag, RB Umali, Yu-Ming Wu Barbara Kruger "Untitled" (I shop therefore I am) 1987 Courtesy: Mary Boone Gallery, New York Featured Guests Executive Editor, HighSnobiety Jeff Carvalho FMR Deputy Style Editor, COMPLEX Style Jian DeLeon Fashion Editor, COMPLEX Style Matthew Henson Stylist Racks Hogan Founder, Maekan Eugene Kan FMR Editor-in-Chief, four pins Lawrence Schlossman Supreme Security Charles Scotti Writer Glenn O'Brien Reseller Andre, @SoleStreetSneakerCo Reseller @CopVsDrop Reseller @Kickz_N_Preme Reseller Methikan Reseller @Sole_Possession_ Reseller @Sole_Reserve Collector @SolePremeCon Special Thanks: "Donnie Kwak, Lawrence Schlossman, Glenn O'Brien, Gavin Bond, Raf Moses, Kevin Paz, Keith Cecere, Lucas Wisenthal, Leland Ware, Alexis Quintero, Lori Mason, Andrew Gordon, Rickey Mindlin" Subscribe to Complex for More: http://goo.gl/PJeLOl Check out more of Complex here: http://www.complex.com https://twitter.com/ComplexMag https://www.facebook.com/complex http://instagram.com/complexmag https://plus.google.com/+complex/ COMPLEX is a community of creators and curators, armed with the Internet, committed to surfacing and sharing the voices and conversations that define our new America. Our videos exemplify convergence culture, exploring topics that include music, sneakers, style, sports and pop culture through original shows and Complex News segments. Featuring your favorite celebrities, authoritative commentary, and a unique voice, our videos make culture pop.
Comments
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I'd only buy this trash to resell to fuckbois.
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Did anyone see Maltosis in this at the beginning?
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yo supreme not that cool lol
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What BS!!!!
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"you know these brands like thrasher and quicksilver". The fact that those two are now comparable hurts my heart a little.
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Nice
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why would she say nike is the only brand that has anything on supreme, Palace and Bape are probably the closest competitor
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So the store only opens when they get new stuff?
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Don't say no one, lmao, FTP resale is nuts sometimes. They're getting there.
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Ta-Ku's beats in the background made this video that much more enjoyable
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I think reselling on such a high demand is disappointing for genuine fans of the brand, who would happily wait however long for new drops or new product launches. reselling purely for profit can be unfair, and consumers only pay the higher prices because it's the only way of getting what they've been waiting for. People are crazy in paying SO much more for items of clothing, and I personally would never do so, even as a fan of the brand and various other similar - but it takes the piss when people sell second hand gear for triple+ the original price. New I can understand, there's money to be made. But selling worn clothing for a profit is ridiculous, and why anyone buys into it I'll never know.
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"Underground" I swear
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5:55 They all look lmao
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Supreme?! What's so special about it? Just white letters on a red background
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Seems there's only one who do not reselling product at outrageous price... https://www.instagram.com/p/BMMPgtLlxkF/?taken-by=sin_louche
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you can always shop online too lmso
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4:38 guys has got "Hypebeast" in his bio wtf
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I just bought a fake hoodie, haven't received yet, but since the resellers overprice everything by 500% and being from Europe, it's hard to get my hands on any supreme item. Paying 500$ for a hoodie is just retarded.
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People can hate and what not but while you're working your worthless minimum wage peasant ass job kids are making huge amounts of profit selling clothing. See people bitching about money but it's like who cares about what people spend their money on? You're lame as fuck if you go out of your way to bitch about what someone decides to spend their money on lol
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