Supreme and Japan: Reading the Archive Collaborations
When Supreme opened its first three Japanese stores in 1998, in Daikanyama, Osaka and Fukuoka, it began making small things to sell from the glass cabinet beneath the register: pin badges, lanyards, later ashtrays and keychains. That cabinet is a good image for the whole Japanese chapter of the brand. Japan was where Supreme was first collected outside New York, and Japanese labels became some of its most important partners.
Our thesis: the Supreme pieces that matter most to a collector in Japan are the collaborations with Japanese houses, and they should be read by season and partner, not by logo. The stores themselves, and how the brand came to open six doors here, are told in our history of Supreme in Japan, a chapter of our reader's guide to Ura-Harajuku. This piece reads the clothes.
At a glance
| Founded | New York, April 1994, by James Jebbia, on Lafayette Street |
|---|---|
| Japan | First stores 1998 (Daikanyama, Osaka, Fukuoka); Harajuku 2006; Nagoya 2008; Shibuya 2012 |
| Rhythm | Two seasons a year, released in weekly Thursday drops |
| Japanese partners | Comme des Garçons, Undercover, Yohji Yamamoto, Hysteric Glamour, Neighborhood, WTAPS, Sasquatchfabrix, Akira |
| Owner | VF Corporation agreed to buy the brand in November 2020 |
| In the house | About 140 pieces |
Why Japan came first
Supreme opened in April 1994 in former office space on Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan, a skate shop in an area with few places to buy skateboarding goods. Japanese visitors to New York were, by one Supreme historian's account, the first adopters outside the local skate community, and their enthusiasm led to the 1998 decision to open small stores in Japan. Four years after New York, three Japanese doors opened in quick succession, before London in 2011 or Paris in 2016.
The brand's rhythm suited collectors from the start. Supreme works in two seasons a year, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, and releases small groups of the season's products every Thursday, a method known as the drop. Runs are short, so the season code on a tag, such as FW12 or SS24, is the first thing to read on any piece.
The box logo and its doubles
The red box with white Futura Heavy Oblique lettering came from Jebbia's interest in a book on the artist Barbara Kruger, whose work uses the same device. Box logo hooded sweatshirts change by season in colour, material and make. A Fall/Winter 2012 camouflage box logo hooded sweatshirt, made in Canada, can be set beside an inside-out box logo hooded sweatshirt from Spring/Summer 2023, where the logo appears as if seen through the cloth.
Collaborations treat the box as a canvas for the partner. A Supreme and MM6 Maison Margiela foil box logo hooded sweatshirt, Spring/Summer 2024, prints the logo in foil as though it were a draft. The full history of the device is gathered in the Lexicon entry on the box logo.
Japanese partners, house by house
A standard list of Supreme's fashion partners names Comme des Garçons (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018), Undercover (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2023) and Yohji Yamamoto (2020, 2022 and 2025). To that list the pieces in our house add Hysteric Glamour, Neighborhood, WTAPS and Sasquatchfabrix, each with dates on the tag.
| Partner | Example in the house | What to read |
|---|---|---|
| Comme des Garçons | a Supreme, Comme des Garçons and Nike Air Force 1 Low in black | Three-way collaboration; Japanese size in centimetres |
| Undercover | an Undercover and Public Enemy taped-seam parka, Spring/Summer 2018 | Season on the tag; a third partner on the graphic |
| Yohji Yamamoto | a Y's leather work jacket with skull embroidery | Which Yohji line is named: Yohji Yamamoto or Y's |
| Hysteric Glamour | a 2024 autumn-winter varsity jacket in royal blue wool | Chenille and knitted graphics on the back |
| Neighborhood | a 2007 varsity jacket, style SPSP-JK-02 | An early Japanese collaboration with a Neighborhood style code |
| WTAPS | a 2021 varsity jacket with red leather sleeves | The year on the tag |
| Sasquatchfabrix | a Shunga long-sleeve tee, Spring/Summer 2016 | Shunga, the Edo-period erotic print, on a hand-cut hem |
Each partner has its own history in our Journal. Undercover's long record of collaborations is set out in our record of Undercover collaborations; Hysteric Glamour's graphic language in our guide to Hysteric Glamour's archive; and the Neighborhood and WTAPS circle in our essay on Neighborhood, WTAPS and military streetwear.
Artists, anime and the Japanese image
Supreme's first artist collaboration came in its opening year, 1994, with Rammellzee, who hand-painted trucker hats and backpacks. Skate decks became the brand's gallery: a KAWS skate deck from Spring/Summer 2001, signed by the artist, and a complete set of four tenth-anniversary decks by Andrei Molodkin show the format. For KAWS's own story, read our essay on KAWS and the repeating icon.
Japanese images run through the archive. In 2020 Supreme and Takashi Murakami made a box logo tee that raised one million dollars for COVID-19 relief; the wider Murakami world sits on our Murakami and Superflat shelf. Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira appears on an Akira fishtail parka from Autumn/Winter 2017, with tags attached.
The workwear and leather partners
Beyond Japan, Supreme's jackets lean on American heritage makers: Vanson Leathers, Schott and The North Face appear season after season in the pieces that pass through our hands. A The North Face Mountain Baltoro down jacket in Himalayan print, Fall/Winter 2017, and a Vanson Leathers Ghost Rider jacket, Spring/Summer 2019, new with tags, are typical, and the format even reached a racing jacket made with Jeff Hamilton, whose own work is read in our guide to Jeff Hamilton's NBA leather jackets.
The luxury crossing came in 2017. Supreme and Louis Vuitton appeared together on the Louis Vuitton runway during Paris Fashion Week in January 2017, and the collection later appeared in pop-up stores in cities including Tokyo. A pair of Supreme and Louis Vuitton baseball gloves in red monogram, unused, comes from that collection.
How to read a Supreme piece
- The season. Supreme pieces are dated by season, Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter. Collaborations usually name the season in the partner's style, such as 18SS or 24AW, on the tag or the box.
- The country of making. Read it against the season: the Fall/Winter 2012 sweatshirt above is made in Canada, while collaborations often follow the partner's own making, so a Yohji piece and a Vanson piece differ.
- The partner's label. A genuine collaboration usually carries both labels or a shared label. The partner's own style code, such as Neighborhood's SPSP-JK-02, is a strong check.
- The box logo itself. In our handling, the lettering is tight and evenly spaced inside a cleanly cut box, with no fuzzy edges. A logo that sits off-centre, or loose letter spacing, is a warning.
- Tags and packaging. Unworn pieces with tags or in the original package, such as a Hanes Bones thermal union suit, unused in its package, are a separate grade.
Every piece is graded on the letters explained in our guide to Japanese condition ranks, and the authenticity of each is covered by the Japonista authenticity guarantee.
Where the record differs
Accounts differ on the order of the 1998 stores. One guide names Daikanyama first and calls Osaka the second store in Asia and Fukuoka the third; other accounts give only the year. A 2019 account counts six Japanese stores; a current encyclopaedic list names stores in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka without dates. Stores also move: Osaka relocated within the city in 2012. Where only the year is recorded, we print the year, not the month.
A correction to the common story: Supreme did not begin working with fashion houses in 2017. Its partnerships with Comme des Garçons began in 2012, five years before Louis Vuitton. What 2017 brought, in the words of one standard account, was the first collaboration of its kind between a luxury fashion house and a skateboard brand.
Starting a Supreme collection from Japan
Choose a partner before a logo. A Supreme piece made with a Japanese house carries two histories at once, the New York skate shop and the Tokyo label, and the season code tells you exactly where the two met. Begin with the partner whose own work you know, read the tag, and keep the box. The brand found its first collectors outside New York in Japan, and the Japanese collaborations are where that conversation is still clearest. That is our reading.
The whole Supreme archive in the house sits on our Supreme shelf.
Answered plainly
When did Supreme open in Japan?
In 1998, with stores in Daikanyama in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. Harajuku followed in 2006, Nagoya in 2008 and Shibuya in 2012.
Which Japanese brands has Supreme collaborated with?
Among others, Comme des Garçons, Undercover, Yohji Yamamoto, Hysteric Glamour, Neighborhood, WTAPS and Sasquatchfabrix, and with Japanese artists and works such as Takashi Murakami and Akira.
Where does the Supreme box logo come from?
From the work of the artist Barbara Kruger, which Jebbia saw in a book; the lettering is Futura Heavy Oblique.
How do I date a Supreme piece?
By the season code on the tag or box, such as FW12 or SS24, and on collaborations by the partner's own label and style code.
Further reading
- Supreme in Japan: the stores and the brand's Japanese history.
- Ura-Harajuku, a reader's guide: the streets where the partners began.
- Undercover collaborations: Jun Takahashi's partners in order.
- A Bathing Ape and Nigo's empire: the other pole of the 1990s scene.
- Deadstock, in the Lexicon: what unworn with tags means.
- The Supreme shelf: every Supreme piece in the house.
- The Jeff Hamilton collection: the leather jacket maker behind one Supreme collaboration.
Looking for a particular season, partner or size? Send us the season code or a photograph, and we will look for it in Japan.
In the Lexicon: Ura-Harajuku.
Sources
- Ross Wilson, "Supreme: A History", Sotheby's, 2019. sothebys.com
- Highsnobiety, guide to every Supreme store, with Japanese opening years. highsnobiety.com
- Supreme (brand), encyclopaedia entry, used for the 1994 founding, the box logo, the drops, the partner list and the 2020 sale. wikipedia.org
Last reviewed 14 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.