Tremaine Emory has stepped away from Supreme.



In February 2022, the Denim Tears founder was appointed as the new creative director of the popular streetwear brand — making him the “first major creative appointment since it was acquired by VF Corp for $2.1 billion in late 2020,” according to Business of Fashion.

Now, the outlet has a new report, which detailed that Emory’s departure from Supreme is due to alleged “systematic racism.”

In the designer’s letter of resignation, he reportedly shared that leaving the company was a result of his collaboration with Arthur Jafa allegedly being canceled. It was also said that Supreme didn’t provide him with a clear reasoning behind the decision.

“This caused me a great amount of distress as well as the belief that systematic racism was at play within the structure of Supreme,” Emory wrote in his resignation letter, per the outlet.

Supreme has also come forward with its response to Emory’s claims, which they stated they are in disagreement with, along with stating that it didn’t cancel the collaboration.

“We are disappointed it did not work out with Tremaine and wish him the best of luck going forward,” Supreme shared in a statement.

Emory taking a stand and leaving Supreme may not come as too much of a surprise based on his perspective on conglomerates.

“These institutions will finance a designer, an artist, a band, a director, a writer or whatever to make something to get more money than what they put in,” he told Just Smile Magazine when advising aspiring creatives. “That’s what it’s about for them.”

He continued, “If you seek their validation because so and so made you creative director, you’re losing. In fact, you’ve already lost. But if you seek validation, firstly, in yourself and secondly, in the community that you care about and who cares about you, you’ve got a chance to live a life without regrets.”

According to Complex, prior to his exit, Emory’s contribution to Supreme’s collections included varsity jackets, durags in collaboration with Coogi, and more.

As of this writing, there isn’t an official report on whether there will be a replacement for Emory’s former role as Supreme’s creative director.