There’s not a single name in streetwear that compares to Supreme. It might have originally started in 1994 as a skateboarding brand, but it has become universally synonymous with youth and forward culture, and as of recently is a $1B company. Supreme sells a lot – from box logo sweatshirts to hand axes and knives – but what’s actually popular? What Supreme stuff sells for above retail, and what do they make the most of? Fear not: The StockX Buyer’s Guide is here to help.
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at everything Supreme in the apparel category. We showed how box logo items have consistently higher resale premiums across the board; we also covered some fantastically high priced and rare items. Here, in Part 2, we look beyond apparel at sneakers and accessories, which is where Supreme resale really gets interesting.
Supreme Sneakers – Collab Only and Spotty Resale
Unlike apparel and accessories, Supreme very rarely makes their own shoes – most releases are collaborations – and they tend to work mostly with Nike and Vans. Supreme has 75+ different sneakers they’ve collab-ed on with Nike available on StockX right now, along with 30+ from Vans and a few others from scattered brands like Dr. Martens and Timberland. The following chart shows the breakdown of Supreme sneaker collabs by brand.
Supreme Sneaker Collabs by Number of Pairs On StockX
In short, if Supreme is doing a new sneaker release, you can safely assume it’s most likely to be with Nike. Nike and Supreme have so many collabs – across sneakers and apparel – that you can even find an entire sneaker history between the two brands on High Snobiety.
Of course, not all Supreme x Nike collabs are created equal. Some categories of Supreme x Nike kicks sell for much higher than others. As you can see in the chart below, Supreme x Nike Foamposites are the most lucrative of the bunch, reselling for close to 3x retail on average. Basketball and Air Jordan Supreme collabs carry large premiums as well, averaging more than 2x retail. The rest settle in around 1.6x.
Resale Premiums of Supreme x Nike Categories
This trend doesn’t just hold for Nike. In the following chart, we look at the distribution of resale premiums across all Supreme sneakers. As you can see, a small share of these sneakers carry outrageously high profit margins: 15% sell for more than 3x retail. However, most Supreme sneakers have much more modest resale premiums, with the highest portion (46%) reselling for between 1x and 2x retail.
Average Resale Premiums of Supreme Sneakers on StockX (% of Total)
This trend is pretty similar to what we found out about Supreme apparel – most high resale premiums are driven by one kind of item (in that case, box logo apparel), and the rest usually sells for closer to what it retailed for. Keep in mind that none of this impacts scarcity, though: virtually all Supreme items will always sell out completely when they retail, aftermarket prices aside.
Supreme Sneakers – Individual Winners
Let’s take a look at some of the individual best pieces from Supreme’s decades long run at making sneakers.
Most expensive: Nike SB Low Black Cement (Average Sale Price: $1,587)
This pair was originally released in 2002 in only two locations – New York and Tokyo, the only two places Supreme had stores at the time. Only 500 pairs were released, which explains the high price tag. A $1,587 sale represents a 24.4x premium over the original retail price of $65.
Best selling: AF1 Mid NBA White
The NBA Mids released in March of 2018 and retailed for $165. They’re the most popular Supreme sneaker in terms of sales volume on StockX, with a 36% higher volume than the next best seller – which is none other than the same shoe in the Black colorway. Combined, these two colorways sell more than twice as frequently as the next most popular item on StockX.
Much of this popularity is probably due to price: these two colorways sell for between only 1.4x and 1.7x their original retail prices, which keeps them pretty accessible to a wider group of buyers.
Highest retail multiple: Nike SB Low Black Cement (Average Retail Multiple: 24.4x)
Unsurprisingly, the most expensive Supreme sneaker is also the one with the highest average retail premium: no surprise there.
Supreme Accessories – Low Resale and High Entertainment
Accessories are probably the prime driver of the mainstream critiques that Supreme gets for being ridiculous or overpriced. They’ve sold some pretty wild stuff over the years, including but not limited to:
- A brick, FW16
- A hand axe, SS18
- A director’s chair, SS19
- A kayak, SS18
These are all pretty unique, and some of these items do indeed resell for way above retail. But overall, Supreme accessories actually don’t carry outrageous premiums. On average, they tend to resell for 1.68x retail. That’s still pretty steep, but relatively low compared to your typical hype items (box logo apparel regularly sells for more than 5x retail). Across Supreme accessories, a few patterns hold:
Items with the lowest retail prices often carry the highest retail multiples
Of the top 10 Supreme accessories by highest retail premiums, all retail for less than $50, and 8 out of 10 retail for less than $25. This makes sense: the lower an item’s original retail price, the less money it has to sell for on the aftermarket to fetch a higher multiple.
People buy and sell utility items from Supreme the most on StockX
The most volume on StockX for Supreme accessories comes from stuff that you might actually use, like the Zippo lighter or the Sigg water bottle. But underwear and socks take the trophy here: out of the top 10 selling Supreme accessories on StockX, 5 are from Hanes.
Many high profile items – like the kayak – sell for below retail on average
Supreme gets a lot of press for unique releases, but many of those don’t do very well after they drop. A few examples:
- Advanced Elements Packlite Kayak: 10% below retail
- Supreme McDermott Pool Cue: 13% below retail
- Tivoli Pal BT Speaker: 28% below retail
There isn’t necessarily a pattern here, other than at the category level: the consistency of Supreme apparel prices doesn’t extend to accessories, and a number of them can be had for below what they retailed for.
Supreme Accessories – Individual Winners
Supreme accessories don’t really fall well into natural categories or center around particular brands, so taking a look at individual items can be more informative. Keep in mind that items released further back might have ever so slightly higher premiums on average, as they’ve had more time to appreciate in value.
Most expensive: Meissen Hand-Painted Porcelain Cupid Figurine (Average Sale Price: $7,323)
This was a pretty high profile release (SS19), and is one of Supreme’s most expensive all time items (retail price: $3,998). Even with that steep retail price, it’s still fetching more than a 1.8x retail multiple on StockX, which isn’t bad at all.
Best selling: Zippo Lighter (Red)
The Zippo Lighter is an iconic Supreme item, and they’ve done a few different versions of it: but the classic red (SS18) takes the cake, and is the best selling Supreme accessory by volume across StockX. It sells for around $90 on average, which brings things in around a 1.81x average retail multiple.
Highest retail multiple: Logo Facemask in Black (Average Multiple: 14.1x)
There haven’t been a ton of sales, but FW14’s logo facemask sells for $340 on average, which is good for a 14.1x multiple over the $24 retail price. The next highest premium? That same facemask’s red colorway, coming in at 12.4x.
In the chart below, we look at a sample of Supreme accessories from different seasons, and show how much their resale premiums vary. The lighter-shade bubbles show accessories with higher premiums, while the darker shade bubbles represent lower premiums. When you group them by season, you can see that SS17 and FW17 accessories tended to have higher resale premiums overall.
Average Resale Premiums of Supreme Accessories by Season
Supreme’s Long Term Sustainability
As Supreme continues working with Nike and expanding into more unique types of accessories, it’s worth noting that resale value has been declining over time for both categories. Are Supreme sneakers and accessories losing their steam? Below we’ve plotted the average retail premium across sales – for both of these categories – over the past couple of years. You’ll notice that recently, sales on StockX have been creeping a bit lower with respect to retail premiums.
Retail Multiples Over Time: Supreme Sneakers and Accessories
So is Supreme resale starting to trend downward? Maybe. StockX has been growing quickly, and higher market volume tends to bring prices closer to retail. But if you’re a hardcore Supreme fan, this is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
