Erin Magee Leaves Supreme for SKIMS Role
Former Supreme chief creative officer Erin Magee departed the brand in late August and joined Kim Kardashian's SKIMS as its first chief design officer the
Erin Magee left her role as Supreme's chief creative officer in late August. The following week, she joined Kim Kardashian's shapewear company SKIMS as its first-ever chief design officer.
Her departure from Supreme was initially lowkey, marked only by a post on her personal Instagram account. It was later dissected online after being noticed by users on the r/SupremeClothing subreddit.
Supreme's Recent Highs and Lows
Supreme has recently been on an upswing, according to the source. This follows a period where the brand felt "especially inessential" by the early 2020s. A combination of waning hype and the rise of buzzy young challengers like Stüssy and MSCHF loosened its cultural grip.
Former creative director Tremaine Emory departed after a year, citing "systemic racism." Collaborations with brands like The North Face reportedly sat on digital shelves, a situation described as absurd five or six years prior. Magee, however, saw the brand through all of this. She joined Supreme in 2004 and guided it through its peak as a streetwear and fashion pinnacle in the early 2010s, as well as its later struggles.
The Online Reaction
The discourse on platforms like Reddit has been mixed. Commenters have acknowledged Magee's impressively long tenure at Supreme. Others complained that staffers in a group photo Magee posted did not look like "skaters." Some observers pointed to a visible lack of diversity in that same photo, recalling Emory's reason for leaving.
According to the source, the r/Supreme subreddit is reportedly a "dumpster fire." The more focused r/SupremeClothing forum is where her departure was first noticed. Highsnobiety states it reached out to Magee for comment.
Magee's New Direction at SKIMS
At SKIMS, Magee will "cover design and creative product direction across Skims’ growing categories and markets," according to a report from WWD. The source suggests that news of her applying her skillset to Kim Kardashian's activewear brand may not make the same splash as her leaving Supreme, as it is only "Supreme-adjacent."
The article speculates that the idea of Kim Kardashian's label "going Supreme" could be enough to make a true believer melt down. It notes that no one is more critical of Supreme than people who love it, calling that the nature of streetwear.
