Supreme opened its first Lafayette Street store in New York City in 1994.
The shop was created by James Jebbia in Manhattan’s SoHo area and was designed around the needs and style of skateboarders. Its layout reportedly allowed skaters to ride into the store, an unusual detail that reflected Supreme’s original community-focused identity.
Lafayette Street became closely associated with the brand even as Supreme expanded to other cities. The original shop helped establish the label’s connection to New York skate culture, art, music, and youth fashion.
Some accounts describe Supreme’s rise mainly through later celebrity attention and luxury collaborations. Those developments came after the Lafayette Street beginning. The key date for the first store is 1994, the same year commonly given for Supreme’s founding.