Every season, like clockwork, Supreme unveils a bevy of hype-inducing collaborations. There are the usual suspects: Nike, Timberland, Dr. Martens, and Schott, among others. And then there are occasionally a few curveballs to catch you off guard—2019’s Jean Paul Gaultier collab comes to mind. But yesterday, the New York streetwear giant announced a drop that truly nobody saw coming: a linkup with the red-hot Tokyo label A.Presse that has already set a certain garms-obsessed pocket of the internet on fire.
Founded by designer Kazuma Shigematsu in 2021, A.Presse has been at the forefront of the new generation of Japanese designers breaking out on the global stage and wooing menswear diehards. Like many of his countrymen before him, Shigematsu has a deep admiration for American vintage; his brand specializes in taking familiar menswear archetypes—military trousers, beefy sweatshirts, classic jeans—and recreating them with obsessive attention to fabrics, construction, finishing, and distressing. At first glance, A.Presse’s clothes have a tendency to look somewhat ordinary—and then you get a little closer and notice that the way the pieces drape across the body and the delicacy of the sunfading and the handfeel of the textiles are all genuinely exquisite. (Which helps explain why a pair of the label’s vintage-inspired trousers might run you over $1,000.) For all the growing menswear-world hype, however, A.Presse has remained something of an industry darling, coveted by those in the know and still relatively difficult to find stateside. This Supreme collaboration, then, is about to put Shigematsu’s tasteful clothes in front of an entirely different—and much larger—audience.
Courtesy of Supreme
Courtesy of Supreme
What’s perhaps most surprising about the collaboration, which releases on September 10, is how restrained much of it looks. Rather than plaster A.Presse’s clothes with Supreme logos and graphics, the collection largely allows Shigematsu’s signatures to do the talking. Zip-up hoodies and M-65 jackets get A.Presse’s meticulous fading and aging without any branding in sight. A cashmere beanie is similarly stripped back, while a minimalist black suit is cut with a roomy, relaxed, ’90s-ish character. (Friendly reminder: do not sleep on Supreme’s tailoring.) There are, of course, some unmistakably Supreme touches: a graphic tee displays a photograph by longtime collaborator Ari Marcopoulos, while the camp cap features the iconic box logo. The prices, however—ranging from $78 for a T-shirt to $4,498 for the calfskin leather jacket—are firmly more in the A.Presse range than your Supreme gear.
