World eyewear leader EssilorLuxottica has agreed to buy Supreme, an American fashion and lifestyle brand focused on streetwear, by the end of the year, it said Wednesday.
French-Italian EssilorLuxottica will pay $1.5 billion in cash to Supreme owner VF Corporation, whose brands also include Vans, Timberland and The North Face, it said in a joint statement.
The acquisition price is substantially below the $2.1 billion VF paid for Supreme in 2020, and the group said the sale would dilute its earnings per share (EPS) in 2025.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, will offer “a direct connection to new audiences, languages and creativity”, said EssilorLuxottica, which already owns global brands Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol and Vogue Eyewear.
New York-based Supreme, whose trademark style focuses on a skateboarding lifestyle and pop-culture iconography, has been particularly successful with young affluent customers.
Prices for Supreme apparel such as T-shirts, hoodies and jeans can reach several hundred dollars, or even thousands.
Its main business is online, but it also runs 17 brick-and-mortar stores in the US, Asia and Europe.
EssilorLuxottica said it would seek to “preserve” Supreme’s approach, while VF acknowledged that its synergies with Supreme had turned out to be “limited”.
