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Supreme gets bought for $2.1B by Vans-owner VF Corp

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 by Snacks

Soulless name... soulful brand. VF Corp is the unfortunately-named company which owns Vans, North Face, Dickies, and soon... Supreme. The popular streetwear/skater brand is best known for its iconic red logo that appears everywhere. Now:

  • Supreme is getting bought for $2.1B and will become part of VF's publicly-traded stock. It's VF's largest acquisition since it snatched up Timberland in 2011 for $2.3B.
  • VF stock jumped as much as 17% yesterday on the news — the most in over 30 years. But it's still down over 20% this year.

Googling "how to be cool"... Slap a Supreme sticker on it. Supreme reeks with "cool factor" — that's something VF needs badly, since most of its brands are past their early 2000s Avril Lavigne peak. Vans and Timbs sales are slowing, and VF has already sold off some of its "declining cool" and industrial workwear brands: Wrangler, Lee, and 7 For All Mankind.

THE TAKEAWAY

This is a learn-cquisition... Supreme is a master at generating hype, with everything from weekly product releases to buzzy collabs — VF wants to learn its ways. It'll also leverage Supreme's digital strategy and social media prowess to expand its ecommerce channels (#linkinbio). But Supreme's biggest appeal is scarcity. If VF scales it up too much, it might lose that "special" factor — then they'd both lose.

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