I waited in line to go to a mysterious cult-favorite skater store worth $1 billion to see why teens are ...

Dennis Green, provided by

Published 3:03 pm, Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Yelp/David M.

• Supreme is a streetwear brand founded in 1994.
• It has risen from cult status to more mainstream acceptance and is particularly popular with teens.
• I visited one of Supreme's New York stores to see why it's so popular.

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Supreme is red-hot.

The streetwear-apparel brand had an amazing 2017, with a roughly $500 million cash infusion from the Carlyle Group valuing it at $1 billion. Adding to the good news for the company is a primo ranking on Piper Jaffray's semiannual "Taking Stock of Teens" survey, which indicates teens are eating it up — or at least desiring it — like never before.

It first appeared in the fall 2017 version of the survey as the 10th most desirable brand for upper-income teens. By spring 2018, it had moved up the rankings to become the seventh.

Supreme was founded in 1994 by James Jebbia and is catered to skaters. There's an air of mystery about the brand, and Jebbia gives few media interviews.

Now, celebrities including Justin Bieber and Milo Yiannopoulous have been seen wearing Supreme's clothing, and its cachet only seems to grow. It operates 11 stores around the world.

I went to Supreme's store on Lafayette Street in New York City to see how the brand became the phenomenon it is today.

Every journey to Supreme starts with standing in line. It doesn't matter when you go — there will be a line. The store allows only about a dozen customers inside at any time, and it's relatively tight inside.

Yelp/Zhongyang Z.

But if you're new to the experience, there's nothing there to explain the process to you. There was an empty set of ropes in front of the door, so I tried to walk into the store as I would any other. I was blocked. I was told the line started around the block.

Business Insider/Dennis Green

Around the block, I found another set of empty ropes, and a family of four entered right in front of me. I got my hand stamped in one line, was held for 30 seconds, then moved to the other line and got my hand stamped again.

Only with both stamps are you allowed to enter the store. After the bizarre ritual, I was finally inside.

Yelp/David M.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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