You have to be happy for James Jabbia, right? He borrows a logo, opens a shop, puts the logo on a bunch of stuff and builds a multi-billion dollar fashion house out of it. Pure marketing at its most fluid, frictionless, and fun. Amazing.
The question, however, is what is VF Corp getting for all this money? A large collection of often red and white collabs, a formerly rabid fan base, and the elimination of a minor competitor? Yes, but they’re also getting Jabbia who will reportedly stay on with the brand as it continues to be headquartered in NYC.
VF Corp CEO Steve Rendle has. . .
. . .described the acquisition of Supreme as validation of the company’s strategy to evolve VF Corp’s brand portfolio in line with the market opportunities driving the apparel and footwear sector. At the same time the company can leverage its scale to sustain Supreme’s long-term growth and expand its global footprint. This will open up revenue growth of 8-10% over the coming five years believes Roe.
So there’s that, plus close to $500 million to add to annual VF sales. VF has been a good steward for Vans, so it’s very possible they will do the same with Supreme. The biggest question of all is will Supreme’s loyal fan base go along with artificially constrained product drops from a mega-corp that could just as easily make an unlimited supply of each item. Only time will tell.
[Link: Forbes]
