## Supreme > Supreme could have easily generated a large revenue by increasing either its inventory or prices, instead it smartly opted for the ‘exclusivity approach’, and this has worked amazingly for Supreme. With its product’s pricing as high as 1200% more than the retail price on the secondary resell market, Supreme has achieved the brand momentum and hype that any other street wear brand could ever dream of. > https://medium.com/predict/https-medium-com-strategy-insider-the-supreme-theory-of-hype-branding-af3f9acd7fe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teKlF4Wxa6U&ab_channel=AmranHasbiAdityaputra ## You chase Supreme Supreme’s attention toward exclusivity also continues to amaze to those who join the email list. Following suite with everything else they produce, Supreme’s email sign up is not the norm. While all their competitors try to bombard the consumers with emails highlighting offers, discounts, sales etc — Supreme uses their email list as another tool to portray the message that ‘you chase us’ in their marketing. Even when you try to sign up for their email list - you enter your email, select your language choice , notification choice and press subscribe — the confirmation message displays your mail address is now unsubscribed. Thus forces you to repeat the whole procedure again till you understand that’s how their sign-up works. > _Supreme has actually been quoted in the documentary “Sold Out” as :_ > The girl that gives you her number, but never answers when you call. ## Psychology If you want to know what cooks the recipe of Supreme’s hype branding , it all boils down to four factors : Scarcity. Authenticity. Identity. Perception. Success can be traced back to a carefully crafted strategy that has capitalized on (1) the scarcity of its products, (2) the credibility of brand collaborations, (3) the growth of the resale market and the power of social media and (4) ever evolving fashion tastes. ### 1. Scarcity Every Thursday morning at 11:00 am during the summer/spring and fall/winter seasons Supreme drops a limited collection of merchandise. Demand for Supreme’s drops greatly outstrip supply with merchandise often selling out within seconds. Supreme’s customers automatically check the company’s website each week at 11:00 am on Thursdays to see what is new and exciting. Having the drops occur at a specific time reinforces this habit. Customers do not have to guess when new merchandise will be available they know the exact times and are always ready to shop. **Even more impressive is the fact that once merchandise is gone it is almost never sold by Supreme again.** This creates a heightened level of desire since customers know that if they do not get their hands on a piece of merchandise they will never see it in a Supreme store or on its website again. This turns all of Supreme’s drops immediately into limited edition collections. There's a rule for 1 item per person, so people lined up with their friends. You never quite knew where the line was going to be, so you had to look out for it. When you sign up for email notifications you never get a confirmation — does this keep you guessing? ### 2. Collaborations Jebbia realized that customers liked shopping high low by paring clothing from Supreme with brands such as Louis Vuitton. Since its early days Supreme has collaborated with other brands but it was a collaboration with designer brand Comme des Garcons in 2012 that was one of the first ones that significantly increased the brand’s exposure. **Supreme has also collaborated with Lacoste, Nike, Timberland, Louis Vuitton and Burberry.** These collaborations helped to elevate Supreme’s status while giving the brands it partnered with more street credibility. Celebrities, especially those from the hip hop culture have also helped to generate word of mouth for the brand with celebrities such as A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator and Kanye West wearing the brand. Supreme also sponsored a small niche of skaters. ### 3. Resale **Resale and social media growth provide free marketing and more exposure.** Resale clothing is one of the fastest growing segments of the apparel market with **the market for secondhand apparel growing from** [**$28 billion**](https://www.thredup.com/resale/#resale-growth) **in 2019 to an estimated $64 billion by 2024**. ### 4. Evolution of Fashion Tastes What defines luxury merchandise is also changing. Speaking about the evolution of luxury products, Demna Gvasalia, the creative director of Balenciaga [said](https://www.ft.com/content/b8da67b2-f09b-11e7-b220-857e26d1aca4): **“the luxury product has changed, unfortunately, in my opinion. The emphasis has gone from quality and craftsmanship into the uniqueness of the product.** CEO of Balenciaga, Cédric Charbit, speaking on the same topic [said](https://www.ft.com/content/b8da67b2-f09b-11e7-b220-857e26d1aca4): **”the value and the money [millennials] want to spend on things has changed. They’re maybe not the generation who’d invest in a $3,000 jacket. But they might buy a $450 T-shirt.”** Millennials and Gen Z are expected to generate 50% of global luxury sales by 2025. As consumer tastes change so does the fashion industry. If there was ever an indication of where fashion is going it could be seen when Virgil Abloh was appointed artistic director at Louis Vuitton in 2018. Abloh, who passed away in 2021, was also a streetwear designer and founder of popular streetwear brand Off-White.   ## Further Reading - [Kanye West’s Yeezy Strategy: How to Create a $1.5 Bln Brand](https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog//how-kanye-wests-yeezy-became-a-bln-dollar-brand-by-focusing-on-limited-product-releases) - [Nike’s Growth & Marketing Strategy: How it Grew Into an Icon](https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/nikegrowthmarketingstrategy) - [8 Facts About Peloton’s Marketing Strategy You Need to Know](https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/jpelotonmarketingstrategy) - [4 Reasons Why the Resale Clothing Market is Growing Fast](https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/resalemarketgrowth) - [15 Facts You Need to Know About StockX the Billion Dollar Resale Platform](https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/stockxgrowth)