Supra is an American shoe brand founded in California by Angel Cabada, in partnership with professional skateboarders such as Chad Muska, Jim Greco and Erik Ellington. Muska has described the founding of the company as an "underground idea", shared between five people, that became a "crazy explosion". The brand has released signature model shoes from team riders, such as Muska, Ellington, Jim Greco, Tom Penny, and Stevie Williams. As of October 2014, the brand is distributed by One Distribution, the parent company of the F1 clothing brand.
History
Supra was launched in 2006, bringing on Professional Skateboarders Jim Greco, Erik Ellington, Tom Penny, Chad Muska, and Dennis Martin to build upon this legendary lineup. The brand released a 260-page coffee table book in December 2012 that documents its history of the company since inception. In an interview for the book's promotion, Ellington stated "It's amazing to see something be so successful that easily could've gone the other way. I feel blessed, honored and I'm humbled. It's something I'm really proud to be a part of." In addition to serving as a catalog of the brand's products, the book also features the brand's team riders and collaborations, including those with artists such as Jay-Z. Supra Footwear was purchased by KSGB, Inc. in June 2015, and became part of Kswiss Global Brands, E Land from South Korea is the parent company. In 2018 Steve Harden former executive leader with adidas and Oakley was recruited to relaunch and restructure the Global Supra & KR3W brands. Harden states, "we are on pace to regain the leader of the global independent footwear branded business. We will gain this lead position through creating the intersection of skate and street style by, recreating the unique and iconic Hightop model and Collaborating with iconic global brands and do all of this with unexpected materials and color. Recreating what made Supra special from 2007-2012." On January 31, 2013, Video Director Dennis Martin created a promotional video for Greco's second signature shoe, "The Hammer", was published on the Internet; Greco's first signature model was named "The Soprano". Greco explained, in relation to the "Hammer", "“I wanted to make a super simple looking shoe. There’s a million shoes out there that are simple, but I really wanted that fusion of vulcanized and cup sole because I like the feel of the vulc, but I like the impact absorbing features of the cup sole." and the shoe's design was promoted as "a high performance, lightweight, low top skate shoe. The upper has a short eye stay, a long vamp, and minimal branding." As of October 17, 2014, Supra owns five flagship stores worldwide: the locations are Paris, France; Mexico City, Mexico; New York City, U.S.; Santa Monica, U.S.; and Tokyo, Japan. The stores sell footwear for women, men, and children. On June 1, 2015, K-Swiss acquired Supra Footwear.
Collaborations
A collaboration occurred between producer and DJ Steve Aoki and Supra for Muska's "Skytop II" signature model shoe. Two colorways of the model appear on the Internet—one that is completely black and the other, entitled the "Remix", with a material consisting of a checkerboard design that overlays an otherwise tonal blue design and crocodile-like texture base. Williams released a collaboration with hip hop artist and entrepreneur, Lil Wayne, in December 2012, whereby the latter designed a colorway for Williams' signature shoe model, the "S1W"—the project was promoted as a "synthesis of skateboarding and hip hop".
