James Jebbia (born July 22, 1963) is an American‑British businessman, fashion designer, and former child actor, best known as the founder of the skateboarding shop and clothing brand Supreme.
Early life
Jebbia was born in New York City to an American father who served in the United States Air Force and an English mother who worked as a teacher. After his parents divorced when he was around ten, he moved with his mother to Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom. In 1983, at the age of nineteen, he returned to the United States and settled on Staten Island, New York City.[1]
Career
- Child acting: In the late 1970s, Jebbia appeared as Tommy Watson in the first series of the British television drama Grange Hill.[2]
- Retail experience: After moving to New York, he worked at Parachute, a high‑end avant‑garde clothing store in SoHo, and later managed Union NYC, a street‑wear shop that primarily stocked English brands. From 1991 to 1994 he partnered with Shawn Stussy, founder of the Stüssy label.[3]
- Supreme: In 1994 Jebbia founded Supreme, opening its inaugural store on Lafayette Street in Manhattan. The brand combined skate culture with high‑fashion collaborations, producing iconic pieces such as tiger‑stripe cargo pants. By 2021 Supreme operated fourteen locations worldwide, including stores in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin and several Japanese cities. Notable collaborations have included artists Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and a 2017 partnership with Louis Vuitton for Paris Fashion Week.[4]
Personal life
Jebbia is married to Bianca Jebbia; the couple has two children and resides in the West Village of Lower Manhattan, New York City.[5]
References
- Williams, Alex (21 November 2012). “Guerrilla Fashion: The Story of Supreme”. The New York Times.
- Haynes, Tom (17 January 2022). “Grange Hill actor James Jebbia went on to found a worldwide fashion brand”. MyLondon.
- Fischer, David (24 July 2009). “Union NYC Closes Its Doors”. Highsnobiety.
- Johnson, Noah (26 July 2019). “A Rare Interview with Supreme's James Jebbia”. GQ.
- “James Jebbia is One of the 500 People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in 2017”. The Business of Fashion.