What is James Jebbia's Net Worth?
James Jebbia is a businessman and fashion designer who has a net worth of $800 million. James Jebbia is best known for founding the New York City-based skateboarding lifestyle and clothing brand Supreme. Beyond the United States, the company has stores in such places as London, Paris, Milan, and multiple locations in Japan. Prior to entering the business and fashion worlds, Jebbia was a child actor in the first season of the British children's television series "Grange Hill."
In 2017 private equity firm Carlyle Group spent $500 million to acquire a 50% stake in Supreme, valuing the brand at $1 billion.
In November 2020 it was announced that Supreme had been acquired by VF Corp. for $2.1 billion.
Early Life
James Jebbia was born on July 22, 1963 in New York City to an English mother and an American father who had served in the United States Air Force. When he was still an infant, he moved with his parents to Crawley, West Sussex, England. Jebbia's parents divorced when he was 10 years old. As a young adult in 1983, he moved back to the United States and settled in Staten Island.
Child Actor
Jebbia began his professional career as a child actor in the late 1970s. He played Tommy Watson in the first season of the children's television series "Grange Hill," focused on the eponymous fictional comprehensive school in the fictional North London borough of Northam. The show was infamous for its gritty depiction of school life, which significantly deviated from the more sanitized portrayals of earlier school-based dramas. "Grange Hill" tackled such taboo topics as drug use, homosexuality, mental illness, child abuse, and sexual assault.
Career Beginnings in Fashion
After returning to the States in 1983, Jebbia landed his first job in New York at the minimalist skate shop and clothing store Parachute. Later in the decade, he founded and began managing the streetwear store Union NYC, which carried predominantly English clothing brands; opened in 1989, it was located on Spring Street in Manhattan before moving to Los Angeles. Jebbia subsequently partnered with Shawn Stussy, founder of the clothing brand Stüssy, from 1991 to 1994.
James Gebbia/ Getty Images
Supreme
In the spring of 1994, Jebbia founded the skateboarding lifestyle and clothing brand Supreme. Geared toward streetwear culture and the skateboarding and hip hop scenes, the company's first store was in an old office space in Lower Manhattan. Early employees included extras from Larry Clark's seminal film "Kids." In 2004, a second store opened on Fairfax in Los Angeles, California, which doubled the size of the original New York City location. Supreme went on to open stores internationally in Paris, London, Milan, and multiple places in Japan, including Tokyo and Nagoya. The company also has other stores stateside in San Francisco and Chicago. In addition to its own clothing label, Supreme stocks other skateboard brands such as Nike SB, Thrasher, and Vans.
Over the years, Supreme has formed numerous partnerships with other major brands, including Louis Vuitton, Emilio Pucci, Champion, Timberland, Lacoste, and True Religion. The company has also collaborated with many high-profile artists, such as Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Mark Flood, John Baldessari, and Damien Hirst. Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto has also lent his designs to the brand.
In 2017, Jebbia confirmed that roughly 50% of Supreme had been sold to the private equity firm the Carlyle Group. A few years later, VF Corporation acquired Supreme in an all-cash deal for around $2.1 billion. Jebbia has continued to manage the business following the purchase.
Personal Life
With his wife Bianca, Jebbia has two children: a son named Miles and a daughter named Nina. The family resides in the West Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
