There used to be, if you will allow an old human being to reminisce, what was almost an art to buying things from Supreme. Non the ordinary things similar decks or wheels or griptape—if you were an actual skater y'all were treated like an actual customer—but the hard-to-get stuff like its Nike Dunks or particularly sought-later on T-shirts and five-console hats.

There was a release day, sure, but in those wild pre-Twitter (and pre-online shop) days, this info wasn't widely distributed. You had to know it, or at to the lowest degree know somebody. And everything wasn't but placed out on brandish, either. Y'all had to inquire. And if that day's capricious allocation was sold out, well, better luck tomorrow. Selling out on the first twenty-four hours wasn't the idea. When the Douse Highs released in 2002, I eventually got the whole set, going back again and once again over the course of a week or more.

This, of course, is no longer possible.

Hither'southward how a Supreme drops works now, for those who aren't familiar. Generally, word gets out of something new dropping early in the calendar week, or possibly the calendar week before. Releases happen on Thursdays, and the lineup starts at least a day before. In the case of the much-heralded Foamposites—which wound up non even selling at the New York store—it was more similar a couple of days before. Simultaneous with the shop doors opening upwardly, products launch online at 11 a.grand., which means thousands of people around the earth are fervently clicking "refresh" from x:55 on. Wait for the official e-mail, and any was most sought after will already be long gone. For those who can't line up and miss that crucial first few minutes of an online driblet, well, sorry. All-time of luck with the resellers.

There has to exist a better way, correct? Of form. Supreme could get back to merely selling a sure corporeality of the high-demand products every solar day, ensuring they'd last at to the lowest degree through the weekend, which would at least theoretically give everyone a shot. (Random restocks on the web could practice the same thing—although these actually do happen when some of the commencement-thing orders are inevitably denied or cancelled.) Barring that, though, what to do?

Hither'due south an thought: Buy different shit. Yes, the box logo tee is a classic, and yes, the latest leopard-print, half-suede, neon pink v console will get beaucoup likes on the 'Gram. But not only is that not all Supreme makes, it's not fifty-fifty necessarily the all-time stuff Supreme makes. Ditto on the collabs. Vans and Nike and Comme des Garçons is nice and all, but ask yourself this: Are you lot buying the Supreme stuff you buy considering you like it, or because it's a real-life equivalent of a "First!" comment? And do y'all really want to exist out there wearing the same matter as anybody else (albeit on a much smaller calibration than, say, the newest Jordan retros)? Oh, hey, you got the Taxi Driver T-shirt likewise, huh? Deplorable yous got stuck with the yellow Forty.

Here'southward some other idea: Treat Supreme like a wear store, not a sneaker boutique. Sometimes information technology seems like product sellouts become a self-fulfilling prophecy—something gets so hyped upwards that the first people in line buy it whether they actually want information technology or not. It sells out fifty-fifty faster because people are worried it'll sell out. Or people settle for colors they'd never, ever purchase otherwise just to get the "right" thing. "At to the lowest degree I won't lose money on it," becomes the battle cry.


Get it together. Leave the T-shirt rack alone, cross to the other side of the store, and check out some of the cut-and-sew stuff. Funny how some people who don't call up twice almost dropping $40 on a T-shirt or $250 on a pair of sneakers volition balk at $118 for a button-upwards or $138 for a pair of jeans. Mayhap go something that will stay in the rotation beyond that first, magical week.

In that location's zilch inherently incorrect with liking the same thing a lot of other people exercise. Later all, someone has to like something on its own merit for information technology to become popular in the first place. Only at the same time, that one particular shouldn't blind y'all to the other options. If you don't get that box logo tee or other item du jour, the world isn't going to come to an end. If you play it right, it'll really open up.

Russ Bengtson is a senior staff writer who owns mode too much supreme but has never camped out on Lafayette street.