On a busy Saturday afternoon, the Supra Footwear store near Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is a retreat from the mad blur of a shopping corridor in full swing. The open, 1,600-square-foot space is all bright-white walls, slate-gray tiles and floor-to-ceiling glass, dotted with bold slashes of color in the form of Skytops and Vaiders, two of the signature sneaker styles that helped catapult the fledgling footwear business to global prominence.
The creative force behind it all is Supra founder Angel Cabada, a media-shy, self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie who started his first business in high school, competed as a sponsored snowboarder and BMXer and runs Factory 413, a retail collective and e-commerce hub out of Los Angeles, on the side. He calls jumping rope for 30 minutes, three times a week, his Zen.
“I like to stay out of the numbers and in the kitchen,” Cabada said, swiveling in his chair at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Orange County. The building boasts an indoor skate park that employees and Supra’s skate team – including greats like Chad Muska, Erik Ellington and Jim Greco – are always welcome to use. At 41, Cabada still looks the part: ripped tee, skinny black denim, high tops, a nose ring and lots of ink.
“I got lucky and found good partners, but I’ve never done anything for money. With friends and with business, things have to feel right,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t explain myself to people, and they think I’m mad, but I draw fast and work with my gut. And I have a good track record.”
Indeed. Launched in 2006, Supra has become known for its on-trend approach to sneaker design, color and materials, even in an industry dominated by powerhouse brands. The Fountain Valley-based business is a multimillion-dollar global brand, though the private company won’t release exact revenue.
Supra has grown by roughly 25 percent annually, even through the recession, CEO Scott Bailey said. The company has marquee stores in Paris and New York City in addition to Santa Monica, with locations in Brooklyn and Harlem opening in the fall. A China office opened in April, allowing Supra to establish control over its supply chain.
From punk to powerhouse
Cabada’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1991, when, as a teenage skater punk, he cofounded the now-defunct TSA (Team Santa Ana) Clothing to make skate apparel for his friends at a time when few other companies were paying attention to streetwear. He sewed shorts in his garage, printed T-shirts a few dozen at a time.
It wasn’t until a friend hooked him up with a small trade-show booth a few years later that he realized there was money to be made.
“I was 20, maybe 21,” Cabada said. “I don’t remember exactly because I don’t draw timelines. But we grew; we learned as we went along. We were one of the only ones around doing streetwear with a skate vibe.”
TSA made $100,000 at the trade show that first year, and $300,000 the next. By the time Cabada left the company due to creative differences – taking along many high-profile members of the skate team who were his friends – he had turned the $10,000 he borrowed into a $10 million company.
“I walked away from TSA with nothing,” Cabada recalled. “No money, no job. I’d just bought a home, too, but I knew I’d figure it out.”
Supra actually is the second business Cabada cofounded under parent company One Distribution. The first, a skateboarding apparel company started in 2002 called KR3W, was a $26 million brand by the time Supra was born, due to the resources and connections he’d made at TSA, coupled with a lifelong disinterest in doing what everyone else is doing.
“I’m not sure we can say we invented skinny jeans and that others copied us, but we were one of the first to put that out there,” Cabada said, adding that KR3W denim was initially inspired by women’s jeans from Gap, which he and his skater friends were wearing at the time because other companies thought they were “too girly.”
Turning point
In 2007, a year after he founded Supra, Cabada did it again. He lit the sneaker world on fire with the “infamous” Supra Skytops, which retailed for $100 and up. Simon Wood, the editor of sneaker-culture magazine Sneaker Freaker, described the design as big, bold and militant, with a silhouette so tall it “violated multiple building codes,” and “an otherworldly je ne sais quoi that subconsciously channeled the next-gen zeitgeist for utilitarian chic.”
It was also a huge gamble that paid off when trendsetters began to notice. “It was a statement piece, and the fashion market grabbed it. We were the first to take skate-style shoes mainstream,” said One Distribution cofounder and CEO Bailey, noting that the earliest celebrity endorsements by Kanye West and Jay-Z, and famous DJs like Steve Aoki and Samantha Ronson, came unsolicited.
Cabada’s friendships with high-profile skaters and celebrities have contributed to Supra’s prominence. Slash wore a one-off pair of snakeskin-inspired Skytops during his performance at the 2011 Super Bowl halftime show; Justin Bieber’s a big fan; so are David and Victoria Beckham and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. In May, Supra debuted Spectre, an exclusive line of shoes designed in partnership with hip-hop artist Lil Wayne.
Early brand champions aren’t surprised at all. The first retailer to stock Supra was Active Ride Shop, which operates 21 stores in Southern California.
“There was no question we would represent the brand,” said director of brand strategy Todd Wakeling. “The footwear industry had started to get a little vanilla, and it was a talking point.”
More important, Wakeling was familiar with KR3W and knew Cabada could deliver what most couldn’t: Products that skaters didn’t hate on.
“Supra was the only independent brand to break through and successfully bridge the gap between lifestyle, streetwear and skate,” said Aaron Levant, founder of Agenda, one of the most popular trade shows for the streetwear and action sports industries. “Our industry is obsessed with sneakers; so much so that it’s become a lucrative mainstream business.”
Red-hot business
Sneakers are front and center at streetwear retailer Attic, a 10,000-square-foot oasis of hipness within walking distance of Knott’s Berry Farm. A mesmerizing display of Nikes, Vans, Supras and the like revolves slowly atop a conveyor-belt contraption, light catching on reflective patches at different angles.
The wood-and-metal, loft-styled flagship in Buena Park opened in 2007, but it wasn’t until last year’s back-to-school season that sales of skateboarding-inspired apparel, footwear and accessories really picked up. According to brand manager Nicholas You, sales – half of that from footwear – have risen 25 percent every month since then, boosted by brands beyond the usual action-sports suspects. “There are new brands that have emerged and expanded the market by offering styles that are different and more appealing to the youth demographic,” he said.
Volcom, a skate brand acquired by French luxury-retail conglomerate PPR (Gucci, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen) last year, launched a footwear line in July after 22 years in business. “End of the day, there’s tons of opportunity in the footwear market,” said Ryan Immegart, Volcom’s senior vice president of global marketing.
In March, research firm Piper Jaffray released a survey of teen shopping behavior showing that 40 percent of 14- to 19-year-olds in upper-income families intended to spend more on shoes. “Instead of athlete-backed brands, we’re seeing stronger influences from musicians and a lifestyle scene,” said analyst Erinn Murphy, who also noted that more respondents were listing brands like Diamond Supply Co. and Lil Wayne’s clothing company Trukfit as favorites.
Even better: The customer base is growing ever larger, as the Internet and social media extend the reach of streetwear and skate culture into Middle America and all across the globe. “Things are crackin’,” declared Greg Selkoe, the founder and CEO of online streetwear store/media company Karmaloop, which is on track to exceed $200 million in revenues this year. “Sneakers are really hot again. We’re seeing new materials, new bodies and new designs. And Supra is in high demand right now. They’ve done a lot of work to really understand the sneaker culture.”
Cabada would agree. “Kids in this realm are the pickiest in the market. If you want to be respected, you gotta relate, and it takes years of figuring it out,” he said.
“I’m the same guy I was 21 years ago when I started my first company. The same guy. I don’t even see the competition. We’re small in a giant footwear industry, and we’re just going to do our own thing.”
It all seems surprisingly complacent – until, of course, you consider that Cabada spent six months settling on the name Supra, which means “above” or “beyond” in Latin. And the crown logo? “Because,” Cabada said, smiling, “that’s the highest hat of all.”
Contact the writer: jwang@ocregister.com
