Supreme/UPROXX
I can already feel the comments coming….”What’s the big deal with Supreme?”…so let me go ahead and answer: I. DON’T. KNOW.
But I do understand it. When a skater brand becomes fashion then turns into culture while remaining affordable to the general public, that’s something to celebrate. In addition to its original designs and signature box logo, Supreme has collaborated with tons of other brands — both urban and high fashion — and popular artists like Keith Haring to create pieces so timeless that they’ve earned global recognition, even holding a huge auction at French auction house Artcurial where pieces sold for more than $80,000.
Most notable among all the Supreme fashion is their selection of shirts. Each drop (they happen every Thursday) features the theme of the drop in at least two shirt iterations, be they t-shirts, button downs, v-necks, fleece, or whichever style is appropriate for the season. As hard as it was to choose, we managed to pick the 50 dopest shirts Supreme has ever released (in no particular order) and compile them in a list for your viewing pleasure.
Fashionistas and streetwear aficionados, prepare your spirits.
Supreme Box Logo Tee, 1994
Gucci Mane Supreme
Ain’t nothing like an original. While the iconic Supreme box logo tee has come in numerous iterations, the average person will forever think of the red rectangle when thinking of the skater brand turned streetwear brand turned collectors’ item.
Supreme x Martha Cooper, 2004
Photojournalist Martha Cooper is great at documenting the streets of NYC, and, as it turns out, she’s also great a collaborating with Supreme to showcase her photos on a line of longsleeves.
Supreme x New York Yankees, 2006
Supreme
A New York-based brand, Supreme does a pretty great job of celebrating NYC, and the New York Yankees Supreme jerseys are no deviation from the norm.
Supreme Ewing Tee, 2002
Speaking of New York sports, Supreme released a shirt commemorating the Knicks’ joy after drafting Patrick Ewing with this super dope tee that, at first glance, you wouldn’t even be able to tell came from the brand.
Supreme Kermit Tee, 2008
Supreme’s photo tees are kind of a thing, and in conjunction with its line of all things Kermie, they released a tee-ception kind of shirt with Kermit the Frog wearing his own classic box logo tee.
Supreme Arabic Longsleeve, 1999
We guess you can call this a twist on the box logo? Either way, it’s one of the doper things that Supreme has done. These have become rare collectors items that sell for more than five times the original price if you can get your hands on one.
Supreme x Nike Basketball Jerseys, 2014
Supreme
2014 was a year of some hard-hitting Supreme drops, and this one was no different. It was paired with fresh Foamposites that matched the jersey — causing the launch to get shut down by the police after the super-hyped event got a little too large for comfort.
Supreme x Stax Records Tee, 2012
Supreme
Supreme gets major points for recognizing Stax Records as a pioneer of soul music, and creating an entire line to celebrate the heritage. With artists like Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, and Aretha Franklin coming out of the small label in Memphis, a t-shirt is the least anyone could do to celebrate them.
Supreme “Hennessey” Jersey, 2011
The unofficial alcohol sponsor of hip-hop and urban life got its own long sleeve jersey in 2011, and hip-hop approved, with both members of Mobb Deep, Havoc and Prodigy, donning the Supreme jersey in the video for “Shook Ones Pt. II.”
Supreme/Bill Thomas Tee, 2003
It’s always cool to see Supreme return to its skater roots, and these full graphic tees of legendary street photographer Bill Thomas capturing the culture are pretty sick.
Supreme Lacoste Sweater, 2017
Supreme
One of the things we love about Supreme is that it can be urban wear, but it can quickly cross over to something a person could wear to work, like this preppy/cool Supreme x Lacoste collab.
Supreme “Little Red Riding Hood” Tee, 2012
In 2012, Supreme took us to its hood — the Little Red Riding one, that is, collaborating with an artist who was way before Supreme’s time, American illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935). As you might have guessed, Smith who created a lot of the artwork for storybooks in the Golden Era of American literature.
Supreme “Stained Glass” Longsleeve, 2007
In three different iterations, Supreme celebrated art, as it does so well, by creating full graphic long sleeves that mimic the religious art found in churches all over the globe.
Supreme “Sade” Tee, 2017
Heart. Eyes. Not only is Sade #blackgirlmagic in the flesh, she makes for a gorgeous graphic tee, and the words to her song, “Your Love is King,” make a great caption. We LIVE.
Supreme x Rap-A-Lot Records Tee, 2017
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Damn, it feels good to be a streetwear fan as long as Supreme keeps releasing pieces of history like this! I will say, being a native Houstonian makes the author here a wee but biased, but the hip-hop head in all of us can appreciate this iconic Geto Boys album cover and Supreme’s immortalizing it in fashion.
Supreme x Public Enemy Rayon Shirt, 2018
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Celebrating Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet” album, Supreme came up with a whole line of classy rayon shirts with the hip-hop group’s crosshairs logo so you can go to work, fight the power, and still make it fashion.
Supreme “Boris Vallejo” Raglan, 2014
Supreme made realism more real by celebrating the Peruvian painter’s art style and appreciation for women in his art.
Supreme “Campbell’s Soup” Tee, 2012
Nope, it’s not a Warhol. It’s a real Campbell’s Soup collab with Supreme, which is random, but probably inspired by Supreme’s collaborations with Warhol’s art.
Supreme Shawn Mortensen Longsleeve, 2005
Supreme is pretty great about recognizing important sociopolitical movements and giving us the perfect tees to remember them. The brand used photographer Shawn Mortensen’s photo of Zapatistas (members/supporters of a Mexican revolutionary force working for social and agrarian reforms, which launched a popular uprising in 1994) in Chiapas, Mexico.
The shirts came in three iterations to display the importance of the uprising as well as Mortensen’s amazing photos.
Supreme “Michael Jackson” Shirts, 2017
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I mean, can you really call yourself a brand that celebrates popular culture if you don’t have the KING of pop featured somewhere? These Supreme shirts featuring Michael Jackson speak for themselves…
Supreme “Joe Cool/Doggystyle” Tee, 2007
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Joe Cool is a real-life artist, who did real-life art featuring dogs before Snoop Dogg’s album, Doggystyle, but who is most well-known for the artwork done on Snoop Dogg’s albums. So, of course, getting your own Supreme tee is a no-brainer when you become forever immortalized in history on one of the most iconic West Coast rap albums of all time.
Supreme x Ralph Bakshi Longsleeve, 2008
Collaborating with artist Ralph Bakshi, Supreme created a beautiful long sleeve based off of Bakshi’s film Coonskin — a 1975 American live-action/animated crime film written about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem (a satirical take on live action Blaxploitation films). Just one more way Supreme has made a statement without making a statement.
Supreme x Clash Tees, 2010
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Supreme isn’t only about celebrating hip hop — it’s about celebrating anyone and anything that stands for making your own rules and sticking it to The Man. The Clash is all about that, as well, so the collaboration was imperative, and also hella dope.
Supreme “Red Cross Society” Tee, 2011
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In one classy-as-hell move, Supreme created an iteration of its classic box logo tee to sell and gave 100% of the proceeds with to the Japan Red Cross Society to get victims back up on their feet after the 2011 tsunami that wiped out a massive coastal region and left so many of its residents homeless.
Supreme Comme des GARÇON Shirts, 2017
Supreme
Supreme wouldn’t just give you urban gear and leave you with nothing to wear to classy events, and this Comme des GARÇON shirt — and matching suits — maintain your street cred even while you thug it out at the job.
Supreme Comme des GARÇON Shirts, 2013
Supreme
The 2017 Comme des GARÇON shirts weren’t Supreme’s first go-round with the brand, and this navy gusset shirt from 2013 might have even been fresher than its later iteration.
Supreme “Jean-Michel Basquiat” Shirt, 2013
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Look, don’t even fix your mouth to say you’re an urban brand if you don’t incorporate Jean-Michel Basquiat in some of your pieces. Supreme remembered that unspoken rule and realized a to-die-for button down as a part of its collection honoring the late artist and activist.
Supreme “Scarface” Sweater, 2017
Supreme
Scarface is just inherently cool. The gun, the red logo in the middle of an otherwise dull background — remind you of any other brands? Supreme must have seen the resemblance when it introduced these two-toned Scarface sweaters that are as fashionable as Mr. Tony Montana, himself.
Supreme “Raekwon” Tee, 2005
Supreme collectors, Wu-Tang Clan fans, and pop/urban culture lovers actively have a debate about whether or not this is the best Supreme tee. As simple as it looks, the tee involves some of the most noticeable popular culture icons all in one photo tee — one of the styles that made Supreme famous. I mean come on, even Elmo is in there chillin’. What’s not to love?
Supreme “Morton’s Salt” Tee, 2010
Don’t be salty if you can’t get your hands on this tee — many people can’t. One of Supreme’s fetishes is putting its spin on classic logos – whether they ask to do it or not — and selling as many as they can before getting a cease and desist letter. These shirts, where Supreme simply added the words, “Born Alone Die Alone,” are fresh, but were super limited releases, as apparently the salt-markers got a little spicy and asked them to stop creating the shirt.
Supreme Xmas Tee, 2017
No stranger to shock value fashion, Supreme’s 2017 Xmas (or should we say, XXXmas?) tees featured red and green skeletons wearing Santa hats in a whole bunch of NSFW positions. It’s like the wet dream before Christmas.
Supreme x HYSTERIC GLAMOUR Tee, 2017
“F*** em!” is a phrase you’ll find on a lot of Supreme merch, given its anti-establishment roots, but this one takes the cake. In corner store/bodega plastic bag style, the phrase “F*** You” is featured several times, leaving no room for mistake when it comes to the message.
Supreme “M.C. Escher” Baseball Jersey, 2017
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Dutch-born artist M.C. Escher was well-known for using geometric shapes, tessellations, optical illusions, and other general mindf*ckery to create trippy art. Supreme honored those cool-looking drawings we all saw as children with a collaboration in 2017 that any art or math teacher would be proud to wear.
Supreme “Hebrew” Box Logo Tee, 2004
Supreme celebrated the opening of a new brick and mortar store in Los Angeles with the iconic Supreme box logo in Hebrew, an homage to the Jewish influence in the area surrounding the storefront. Another classy move that says they aren’t trying to gentrify — they’re just coming to hang out.
Supreme x Louis Vuitton Denim Baseball Jersey, 2017
Supreme
Louis Vuitton was one of those brands we mentioned earlier that was not so thrilled to have Supreme pay homage in their own way without asking. However, when they finally decided to work together legitimately, they came out with the dopest shirts. One shirt, in red and blue, is a denim baseball jersey — a concept in and of itself.
Supreme x Louis Vuitton Silk Pajama Shirt, 2017
Supreme
You can probably wear these to bed…but why would you do that when you can wear them out and about? When Supreme got the “go-ahead,” they went all out with the LV line, including these swanky silk pajama-esque shirts.
Supreme Bodysuit, 2017
…and all my ladies said, “Hell yeah!” when Iggy Azalea rocked a Supreme bodysuit on her Instagram page. Supreme is primarily known for menswear, so even getting a glimpse of a shirt that probably wouldn’t be of much use to real women with real bodies gave us a little bit of hope.
Supreme Hellraiser BDU Shirts, 2018
Supreme
The only thing scary about this dope collection of Supreme shirts featuring Pinhead, the antagonist from the cult horror film Hellraiser, is, well, Pinhead. The shirts, however, are way dope, especially the grey and maroon camo colorway.
Supreme Jacquard Tartan Plaid Tee
Supreme
These shirts are just plain fun — a take on your average plaid tee, and a little more color than some of Supreme’s original offerings.
Supreme “Happy Holidays” Tee, 2001
In another NSFW holiday tee, Supreme released a shirt where the main graphic on the front was taken from a series of erotic Christmas cards created by New York artist Olivia De Berardinis.
Supreme “Black Moses” Tee, 2012
This tee comes from the Stax Records collaboration and happens to be the full image from the cover of the EP that folds out to show the above-pictured photo of Isaac Hayes as Black Moses.
Supreme “F*** Nike” Tee, 2001
These shirts were probably meant to be statements on big business, but the message didn’t age well, as Supreme blew up on the fashion scene and eventually worked with Nike an awful lot on some big selling items.
Supreme “Ali vs Superman” Tee, 2000
Taken from a real DC comic story, the cartoon of Muhammed Ali going toe-to-toe with Superman on an alien planet is one of the coolest ideas we could think of, and having a Supreme shirt to illustrate it for us is even cooler.
Supreme x Malcolm McLaren “Duck Rock” Tee, 2009
Where there is a Basquiat, there is a Keith Haring. Visual artist, musical genius, performer, and designer Malcolm McLaren released a solo project, Duck Rock in 1983 that featured artistry from Haring, and in true cross-genre blending form Supreme is so great at, they released a shirt to commemorate the album in 2009.
The shirt turned out to be extremely timley, as McLaren passed away unexpectedly the next year.
Supreme Nas Photo Tee, 2017
You cannot honor hip hop without honoring Nas, and that’s just what Supreme did in its 2017 iteration of Nas’s photo tee.
Supreme Budweiser Tank, 2009
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Let me tell you what: You cannot call yourself an American culture connoisseur unless you’ve enjoyed a beer in a tank. Supreme helped fulfill all your “sun’s out, guns out” summer fantasies with a shirt decked out in the logos of the most ubiquitous beer around.
Supreme Mike Hill Tees, 2017
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Mike Hill, art director of Alien Workship, collaborated with Supreme for a line of tees and skate decks with the statement “I regret everything” on them, and featuring Hill’s typical style of violent papier–mâché dioramas in four different variations.
Supreme x Thrasher Boyfriend Shirt, 2017
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We keep thinking Supreme will stray from its skater roots and then it pulls us back in! These Thrasher button-downs feature comics with women who are sadly wondering why their boyfriends don’t skate. Same, tbh.
Supreme “Miles Davis” Tees, 2008
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of jazz pioneer Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue album, Supreme released tees with a picture of the legend on front, and explainers about the three separate releases of the album in 1959, 1968, and 1972.
Supreme/PHASE 2 All Over Print Tee, 2007
The originator of “bubble letter” style of graffiti, New York graffiti artist PHASE 2 (Lonny Wood) teamed up with Supreme to release a collection featuring this all over print tee with multiple popular culture references, including his usual reference to Malcolm X.
We literally don’t have enough space on the site to keep the list of awesome Supreme tees going, but you can check out the Supreme New York Archive and Supreme Museum to see what you’ve missed and what’s to come.
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