Tremaine Emory Exits Supreme Amid Conversations on Diversity and Partnership: The High-Profile Exit Sheds Light on Alleged Systemic Racism and Mishandling of Arthur Jafa Project
Tremaine Emory, the creative director of streetwear titan Supreme, has submitted his resignation after 18 months on the job. Emory’s departure comes amid allegations of “systemic racism” within the company and perceived mismanagement of an upcoming collaboration with acclaimed artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa. Emory was the first marquee appointment for Supreme since it was acquired by VF Corp in 2020.
A designer and creative director who has worked with Virgil Abloh, Emory is also the founder of Denim Tears, which recently collaborated with Kim Jones’ Dior. Emory’s first work for Supreme was the brand’s Spring 2023 collection, while Complex called his final upcoming collection for Fall 2023 “Supreme’s best season in years.” The collaboration with multimedia artist Arthur Jafa, like much of the artist’s work, was set to explore Blackness and racial violence in America.
Emory attempted to collaborate with Supreme executives to release a joint statement regarding his departure. However, the talks collapsed when the company reportedly refused to allow him to attribute his exit to systemic racism and to acknowledge a specific incident he characterized as racist.
The issues brought forth by Emory highlight two central points of contention. Firstly, he pointed to a lack of minority representation within Supreme’s design studio. Secondly, he alleged that a planned collaboration with Arthur Jafa was unilaterally terminated without his consultation, suggesting a significant breakdown in internal communication and transparency. Supreme, however, has refuted Emory’s claims, stating that the collaboration with Jafa is still in the works and disputing his characterization of the company’s culture.
Text exchanges posted on Instagram by Emory also involve key figures in the company, including founder James Jebbia and vice president of marketing Julien Cahn. According to Emory, Jebbia admitted that he should have been more involved in discussions surrounding the Jafa project. He posted the following–

“So over the last few weeks after resigning I fought tooth and nail into the 25th hour with c suite of supreme to align with them on a statement to the press explaining that l left supreme because of systemic racial issues the company has from the treatment of the arthur jafa collab to the make up of the design studio that has less than 10% minorities working when the brand is largely based off black culture ask @juliencahn @kyledem and Alex detrich…they were all on the text messages and kyle was on the calls until I told him I can’t align on a statement that doesn’t cite systemic racism and was asked to tell complex a racist incident didn’t happen and if they report that we can’t put out a statement with you because that will be the story( I refused to)…kyle said we will call you back on Tuesday night and y’all never did so it’s tragically ironic y’all three left me “hanging” @kyledem on that call you said we want you to tell your story with us “ your the best story teller I know” well y’all gonna get a story… So the Tuesday after i resigned james jebbia pulled up to my crib ( the text above was sent by him after leaving my crib) and we talked about why i resigned. the head of hr was there and a woman from vf was listening in on zoom. James admitted he should have talked to me about cancelling images from the jafa collab because one of the few black employees( who ironically has quit supreme before I did partially because of his treatment due to systemic issues by the supreme…his words not mine) in the design studio didn’t think that we should be putting out this collab because of the depiction of black men being hung and the freed slave gordon pictured with his whip lashes on his back. James agreed there should have been discourse about the project with me being that I was the creative director and I’m black. Supremes statement in the @bof article is a lie to hide the systemic racism that lies deep within supreme and almost all white Owned corporations. I wanted to work with supreme to change these things and instead I told I was racially charged, emotional, and using the wrong forum by bring up systemic racism in a meeting when I was asked if we should work with a black female artist whilst this jafa project was secretly shutdown without anyone talking to me. That’s why I resigned…james agreed with all of my points and said he’s gonna change supreme…he’s gotta stand on what he said to me and the whole c suite and head of design gotta stand on what was said @erin_mademe @kyledem @juliencahn @electromagnetic_studios etc…I got a full clip of receipts plus you can just talk to the other few Ppl of Color that work in the design studio about they’re experience as it is a valid as mine I just have a platform to speak that most people of Color in America don’t have…
Emory’s allegations offer a stark counter-narrative to the brand’s public image, putting the industry on notice. It raises pressing questions about diversity, inclusion, and corporate ethics within not just Supreme but also the broader universe of fashion companies.