Who is Tremaine Emory? Meet Supreme’s new Creative Director

Supreme has named Tremaine Emory as its new Creative Director, according to a report from the Business of Fashion. Emory started working for the brand under the reign of James Jebbia, who is the founder of the label. While Jebbia will oversee all aspects of the corporate world, Emory will be designing for the label, starting this week.

The appointment is the biggest change in the brand ever since it was acquired by VF Corp, the North Face owner. The deal was done back in 2020, in which VF bought Supreme for $2.1 billion.

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Who is Tremaine Emory?

Tremaine Emory, popularly known as Denim Tears, is part music, part fashion, and part radio hybrid. Born in Georgia, Atlanta but raised in Queens, Emory is currently based in LA. Although being Supreme's Creative Director may have given him new heights, he has been inspiring fans with his creative outlets for a long time, through fashion merchandise, radio podcasts, and, of course, his infamous parties at 'No Vacancy Inn.'

Tremaine Emory is a well-established figure in the world of creatives who are rewriting the rules of high-fashion to lifestyle. He made his entry with a bang when he co-founded the famous platform for the music-nightlife-fashion collective, No Vacancy Inn.

He has been spotted in multiple collaborations from Levi's to Converse to Champion. Most recently, he collaborated with the Asics brand and continued his streetwear legacy.

Emory has worked with some major fashion moguls such as Virgil Abloh, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, and Tom Sachs. He has embraced all these opportunities in his mission to tell the story of African-American culture and their creativity through his style. He wanted to give a "cultural vein" to educate the shoppers about the experience of the POC.

In his recent collaboration with the jeans giant Levi's, Denim Tears has explored the relationship of America's slavery history with cotton. The collection was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

In a 2020 interview with Esquire, Emory drew a parallel between his brand, 'Denim Tears,' and 'Supreme' by saying:

“Supreme has put out some really powerful garments about what Black people and other people go through in the world — but basically Denim Tears is like African-American sportswear. You know what I mean? So like, Supreme does every couple seasons, they’ll do like a Malcolm X whatever. My whole line is that. And that’s how I’ve come out the gate. It’s just, I guess, a civic or cultural zeitgeist.”

Above all, Tremaine Emory is an artist known to narrate a story through his creative outlets. He also originated the term 'Art Dad', which he explored with Virgil Abloh's brand, 'Off-White'.

In his latest work, he has collaborated with New Balance to give an idea of what we need to live: 'WiFi and Water'. He has built a reputation in this industry as a cultural provocateur, arbiter of taste, and a creative polymath.