Who is Tremaine Emory?

IN February 2022, designer Tremaine Emory was appointed as the Supreme’s first-ever creative director.

But after a year and a half with the streetwear brand, Emory stepped down from the role.

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Who is Tremaine Emory?

Tremaine Emory is an American fashion designer and creative consultant who founded the brand Denim Tears.

An Atlanta, Georgia native, Emory got his start working retail jobs for brands like J. Crew and Kate Spade and department stores like Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman.

He got his big break in 2006 when he was hired by Marc Jacobs, where he worked for nearly a decade.

Emory has worked with artists like Frank Ocean and Andre 3000, and between 2016 and 2018, he served as a creative consultant and brand director for Kanye West.

He was also instrumental in reviving the brand Stüssy, where he worked as art director.

He founded Denim Tears in 2019, describing it as the “Supreme for Black people and anyone else who wants to celebrate or commemorate what we’ve been through.

“[It’s] using T-shirts as billboards for knowledge and expression,” he shared in an interview with Najee Reed of the RSVP Gallery.

When did Tremaine Emory become the creative director for Supreme?

Supreme recruited Emory as its first creative director in February 2022, after the brand was acquired by VF Corp for $2.1billion.

“I was probably the first black kid in Jamaica, Queens, wearing Supreme in 1999,” Emory told Financial Times at the time.

“To become the creative director 25 years later… It’s just a story for the ages.”

However, in August 2023, reports surfaced that he resigned, which he later confirmed on his Instagram account.

According to a copy of his letter of resignation obtained by Business of Fashion, he parted ways with the brand because of allegations that “systematic racism was at play within the structure of Supreme.”

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He apparently reached an impasse with the senior management of the company over a yet-to-be-released project involving a collaboration with Black American artist Arthur Jafa.

Emory claimed that the management failed to give “full visibility for the reasons” for the project’s apparent “cancellation.”

“This caused me a great amount of distress as well as the belief that systematic racism was at play within the structure of Supreme.”

On the other hand, Supreme noted that the project has not been canceled.

“While we take these concerns seriously, we strongly disagree with Tremaine’s characterisation of our company and the handling of the Arthur Jafa project, which has not been cancelled,” Supreme said in a statement.

“This was the first time in 30 years where the company brought in a creative director. We are disappointed it did not work out with Tremaine and wish him the best of luck going forward.”

Emory offered more detail about his resignation in an interview with Vogue Business.

He said that when he was away on medical leave, Supreme had pulled some images he had chosen from the Jafa collection without his consent.

“My issue isn’t whether it got cancelled or not,” he said.

“It’s that they didn’t talk to me about it for four months. I’m the creative director.

And they were talking about it in the C-suite, which I’m a part of, behind my back.

“That’s systemic racism. Because they’re scared to talk to me about it.”

Is Tremaine Emory married?

Emory is believed to be single as of this writing.

Not much detail is known about his personal life.

While he alluded to having relationships in the past, he didn’t divulge additional information.