Noah's Notes: Supreme's Ritual Returns

Noah's editorial notes discuss Supreme's recent buzz and a new tennis brand. The source is Noah's Notes on Highsnobiety.

A tennis brand that I actually like

Shade was started by Miraj Patel, a founder of the label Gnuhr. He created it as a response to outdoor brands focused on efficiency and vibes, which he felt overused synthetics and created waste. Shade is a small-scale brand focused on meticulous design, limited hand-numbered runs, and a visual identity like an art project.

Miraj Patel fell under the spell of tennis while developing Shade. Much of the clothing's functionality and the brand's imagery is now centered on the sport.

The author typically wears adidas Climacool Ergo shorts and a vintage cotton tee for tennis. They recently got Shade's long shorts and are really into them. They praise the fabric, the interesting construction that doesn't sacrifice comfort, and a raw hem with bar-tack stitching. This stitching allows the wearer to cut the shorts to a preferred length. All Shade garments come with some version of this customization option.

The importance of ritual

People are saying Supreme has returned to form. The author has clocked more people wearing the brand lately, and there was significantly more buzz around the new collection preview this week.

It is interesting that Supreme's stock rises and falls because the brand is likely the most consistent of the last 20 years. The product quality has remained high for the price. The "Fuck Em" attitude never changes. The referential design sensibility varies only slightly. Collaborations with artists and other brands maintain a steady caliber. Every new collection is released at the exact same time in the exact same way, twice a year.

The cornerstone of Supreme's collection rollout is the preview grid. This is a seemingly endless product labyrinth revealing every item for the coming season. Supreme started these standardized online previews and lookbooks in 2011. That was when the web store first expanded to cover the EU and UK. Supreme did not even have a web store until 2006.

The author loves the preview. They have not bought anything from Supreme in years but still click through every slide out of habit. The rigidity and predictability of Supreme's rollouts turned standard marketing into a kind of ritual. Rituals like the preview, the drop day, and the collaborations became central to Supreme's success and identity.

For rituals to be effective, they need deep cultural meaning. The author would like to know the traffic numbers on Supreme's preview page to see if it still has it. They bet it does.

Other observations

The editorial also mentions a confounding new brand called BbbLllAaaHaa that the author loves. They praise its opulent labeling, tightly constrained collections, and functional clothes. The author is also interested in a plastic watch from the brand everyone, founded in 2022 by Ryo Miyoshi. The watch made them nostalgic for hunting vintage Swatches. The author concludes with a final thought that you have to be a total weirdo to wear a black T-shirt.