A little over a year since his appointment as creative director of Supreme, American designer Tremaine Emory made the unexpected decision to step down from his position, citing “systematic racism” as the main motive behind the reason for his departure from the streetwear and skate brand after just two collections. Emory also said that the company mishandled a collaboration with artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa. The collaboration was allegedly canceled without consulting him, after a former Black employee didn’t think that it should move forward.
Sitting at the helm of the hypebeast label since February 2022, the founder of clothing brand Denim Tears, did not shy away from expressing his frustration regarding the dynamics within Supreme via a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, alongside screenshots of texts he said were with Supreme executives, including founder James Jebbia.
He explained that management did not provide enough reason as to why they would not pursue the idea of collaborating with American video artist Arthur Jafa, claiming that senior members of the brands did not offer “full visibility for the reasons behind it,” causing the designer to experience “a great amount of distress” and eventually leading him to leave his much-coveted position.
Revealing how he struggled to see eye-to-eye with his former employers, Emory stated that he tried to work with executives to release an aligned exit statement about his departure, but they didn’t want him to cite “systemic racism” as his reason for leaving the company.
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In response to the circulating news, the New-York-based brand responded by claiming that they “take these concerns seriously (and) strongly disagree with Tremaine’s characterization of our company and the handling of the Arthur Jafa project, which has not been canceled.”
As of right now, no one can possibly predict where the designer will be headed next nor whether Supreme will appoint anyone else after this fiasco (it’s worth reminding that Emory was the first creative director to be named in 30 years), but it’s safe to say that seeing both parting ways is a significant moment in the fashion and streetwear industry as well as an upmost important reminder to how prevalent discriminations still are in our societies and how long the road is before we achieve true equity and inclusivity.
