Supreme has been snapped up by eyewear business EssilorLuxottica under a £1.15bn ($1.5bn) deal that marks its first apparel brand acquisition.
The eyewear company, which manufactures glasses including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Oliver Peoples, bought the brand for less than its £1.61bn ($2.1bn) sale price to VF Corp in 2020.
The VF deal marked an end to Supreme’s relationship with the Carlyle Group, which acquired a majority stake for $500m in 2017 that valued it at $1bn.
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In a statement, EssilorLuxottica said the fashion brand “perfectly aligns with our innovation and development journey, offering us a direct connection to new audiences, languages and creativity”.
VF Corp explained that there had been “limited synergies” between Supreme and its other brands, and that the sale was a “natural next step”.
The acquisition of the streetwear label marks eyewear specialist EssilorLuxottica’s first step into the world of apparel.
Supreme, which was founded in 1994, runs a direct-to-consumer website and has 17 stores.
The brand grew to prominence in the late 2010s, when it became the must-have streetwear brand, attracting queues of consumers outside its stores.
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