Over the past 10 years Supremebeing™ have firmly established themselves on the UK clothing landscape, and they don’t want to stop there. They have managed to superbly negotiate the difficulties of keeping the soul, excitement and independant feel in a very successful highstreet brand. Based out of Cambridge and coming with a burgeoning reputation for forward thinking and directional design, we got to chat to David Newman about the goings on at Supremebeing™.

What’s your name, where are you from, what do you do?

Hi there, my name is David Newman I was born in Cambridge UK and I’m one of the team at Supremebeing™.

How and why did you start Supremebeing™?

We established Supremebeing™ in 1999 Yoc / Mozza / Skuff and myself in Cambridge, some screen printers, artists, designers and entrepreneurs. Born from a love of graphic design, art and streetwear, the belief was that with talent and hard work we could make a career from what we love. We had great designs; it was up to us to make it happen. The team began with tee and hoody prints that would become the foundation of the brand. It was here that the name Supremebeing™ first appeared; a strap line to a graphic which depicted one of the designers’ left hand missing part of a finger lost in a bizarre chip shop accident! This was Yoc, his mum used to call him a Supremebeing and said to him, that in the eyes of god we are all equal!

Created first Amongst Equals! All Supremebeing’s.

Renting a space at the screen printers where we once worked, we developed our own print techniques and produced a huge catalogue of graphics. The new designs could be printed to order from a stock of blank tee shirts in a rainbow of colours, giving unprecedented speed and flexibility. Supremebeing™ grew organically, evolving from graphic to garment design, and moved into new areas in response to meeting and taking on new talent. Our handmade ethic continued year on year as a base of like-minded customers steadily built around the world.

Today the apparel and footwear ranges still retain the original concepts of creativity, passion and exceptional design Supremebeing™ was based on, and it is committed to offering quality product with no gimmicks and a touch of good humour. This is our culture, our scene. We were sick of brands repackaging our culture and selling it back to us at ridiculous prices. We wanted to make clothes that represented who we were and also that our friends could afford…”

We funded it all off our own back and whatever we made from sales we put straight back into the company, the same as we do today!

How many people currently keep Supremebeing™ running day to day?

At our base in Cambridge there is a full time team of 14 of us:

Design: Yoc / Skuff / Billy / DQ / Sammy / Mary /

Web: Trip / Amy / Meado

Marketing: Simon

Logistics and Finance: Mozza / Kerry / Matt / Pete

Part time: James / Duncan

I fall somewhere in there too! I also feel that all our distributors around the world need a mention and our agents in London, its actually quite scary the amount of people that are involved with Supremebeing™ now day’s, we have over 10 distributors around the world who employ on average about 4/7 agents, the family is growing weekly, and the love we feel form the people we meet is amazing, without all involved we would never be where we are today and where we are going!

How did you make the shift into large cut and sew ranges, what was the first cut and sew piece you ever produced?

We started printing on hoods and crews as well as t-shirts then we meet a girl called billy about 6 years ago who was in her 1st year at Uni in Nottingham, she came and did work experience with us and we all developed a girls snowboard style jacket and some dope mens trak tops! From there we meet more designers and sort of taught ourselves with help from friends how the cut and sew world worked, Our first full collections we produced in Portugal for jersey and the jackets we made in China through a friend in Korea!

We still look back and try and work out where this big transition was but it was and still is very Organic, it’s all about the people we meet and how we help each other out!

Time lines are infinite they never seem to end so as far as how long did it take, we feel we are still very much on the journey! We also produce quite a large collection of sneakers twice a year, this is looked after by the one and only DQ the street cobbler! Keep your eyes peeled for all future development

Was the brand self sustaining in its growth, did one collections profits fund the development of the subsequent ones increase in collection size?

We design things hope people like them and buy them, then use the cash we make to invest in the next collection / ideas and so and so on! We do it for the love, We just try to keep the rollercoaster moving and hold on tight!

Was there a specific turning point when you feel the brand ‘took off’ as such?

Its nice to hear you feel we have blown up already we feel there is so much more love and passion to put in! Meaning hard work and time, we feel so lucky everyday and yet still feel a bit slept on! I still feel we have so much to do to get out there more!

How was the bricks and mortar flagship store experience, and the positives and negatives of moving to a web flagship?

We loved our old store, we were just in the wrong location and never really had the cash we needed to put into it! Rent in our hometown is so high! The shop inspired people so it served its purpose, shame it never made us any cash! To be honest it just lost us money, since going only on line we are starting to see some return!

We are looking at opening a space somewhere out there soon; in the mean time we are web focused!

The Supremebeing™ x Nooka watch is one of my favorite collaborations of recent times, how did that come about?

We like Nooka™, and originally met them at a show in Barcelona when they had just launched and chatted about a colab. We then went to see them in NY a year or so later and did the colab, we love colabs and are looking at doing many more in the future

How do you feel balancing the independent exclusive side of things with the more easily accessible highstreet face of the brand?

We are carful who we work with and generally work with nice people, it’s so difficult to have a balance, but I feel we have done well to maintain the brand and keep to our core values!

What is the vision for Supremebeing™ now, where do you want to head with the brand?

Keep it going / create more beautiful products for a beautiful future / take the brand to more people so they can feel it the same way we do! Our next big areas we are focusing are the US / China and as always the UK.
If you could collaborate with one artist, brand, musician….anyone.  Who would it be and why?

Hendrix or Bob Marley but im sure the team will all have the favorites! And shame they’re not around to do it meaning my choices. Living artist I guess I would say someone like Neil Young.

To keep up to date with the big news relating to Supremebeing™ head over to their website HERE, and to buy some of the immaculate product head to UNIFY SHOP!

Nooka have teamed up with supremebeing to bring you the latest in collaboration watches. What they decided to do was remix the Nooka Zot model face into a limited edition piece with the supremebeing camo text across the face of the watch. The band is constructed of polyurethane and features an aluminium case in Yellow, Blue and Pink. The watches are extremely limited to only 200 pieces, so get on this now

For Holiday ‘08 Nooka hit us up with one of the newest watches from their collection. The Zirc. This new watch is more conservative, and doesn’t have crazy colours or anything like that. It is available in gold, white, black and silver. As always with Nooka, the watch features a funny way of telling the time, another one to get your head around and then look cool infront of your friends when they casually ask you for the time, then spend the next ten minutes marveling at your unconventional time piece. Nice. Well worth it. Go get this now at NOOKA and then buy a second one, and send it through to me me at the below address…

Tom Bracewell
189 Rolleston Drive
Lenton
Nottingham
NG7 1JZ

Wow…what to say about this. After I brought you the other sweet Nixon watch last week that dropped with the real stones embedded in it, now we get a peek at ‘the newton’. Its very Nooka, and not very Nixon. With Nooka exploding this year and really cementing themselves as the new masters of inventive ways of telling the time…Nixon obviously want a bit of the action. This could have gone awfully wrong and looked very much like a blatant take off, and a half hearted attempt to look hip and cool, but i don’t think it does. I think it works. I think that Nixon have made a blatant move back into Nooka’s waters, and aren’t just giving up that whole market to Nooka which is sweet. Lotta respect for Nixon, they’ve produced a really nice looking watch…and if I was in the market for one I would be after this bad boy. Peek below.

Nooka are proud to announce the release of their Holiday 2008 Collection. Pictured is the ZENH CAMO GR which is available in numerous other camoflauge colorways and is part of their ‘Creatures of the Night’ [COTN™] Line which is said to be inspired by urban camoflauge colorways. This particular series of watches is available in Grey Balmy Green, Urban Jungle Grey, and a Crooklyn Remix color. The watch face is the well-known Nooka Zen-H, the case back is made of high-quality stainless steel, features a PU band with a butterfly closure, is 5ATM waterproof, consists of mineral crystal, and also has an EL backlight. The size is 35 x 35 x 10mm with a 28mm wide band. Much like the other Nooka watches, this new set tells time in a completely unconventional way. Nooka very well may be setting presidence for the standard in which all watches are designed and constructed. This particular watch retails for $250 and seems as though it is well worth all of the money! The pictured watch is just a small portion of what is to come from Nooka, so make sure you hit their awesome website up. So nice! I want one of those watches! [thehundreds]

After its recent collaborations with LTD and Hellz Bellz, watch maker NOOKA teamed up with designer and retailer Kidrobot in producing a limited edition timepiece.  Based on the popular NOOKA Zub model with the signature Zen-H watch face, the NOOKA x Kidrobot - Koolabooration Zub Watch will feature an offset print of the famous “Kid Robot”  on the wrist band.  With only 1000 units available, the watch is scheduled to release at Kidrobot locations and online next week, follow by a wider product launch by NOOKA end of this month. [freshness]

It’s been a big year in terms of collaborations and successful releases for Nooka. Well, to keep things going, they recently teamed up with LTD Magazine to produce these unique watches. Called the ‘Invisible Warrior’, the watch band features a black and white camoflauge print. This print is going to be used on upcoming collaborations with Nooka, and is even said to be used on an upcoming sneaker with Etnies Plus. Don’t sleep on this one because there are only a total of 144 pieces available and will only be made available at very few select retailers. Start looking soon!

Earlier last week, we brought you news and images of Nooka’s collaboration with Hellz Bellz. Today we bring you their newest effort, the Glow In The Dark Watch which is a re-worked version of their popular Zub watch. The watch offers more than just a unique look and color but also a very abstract way of telling time which uses flashing LED bars to denote the time. Originally these watches were limited to 15 pieces and were only offered as gifts to Kanye West and crew in celebration of the completion of their latest tour; that is until now. Family Affair have 500 of these watches and are being offered for $155.

Nooka has tapped Hellz Bellz to design a special edition unisex watch that showcases black metal mesh strap detail and a purple and blue design, with reminiscent of a galaxy far off in space. The celestial design is limited to 200 pieces and the suggested retail price is $300. Look out for the Hellz Zoo Watch come November!

We saw these guys Nooka down at Margin this summer, and they are producing some pretty amazing watches. You can check them out here. In addition to the watches we presents to you “NookaNooka” which is their official mascot. Designed by Matthew Waldman and available for sale on their site and only for display at our store. If you have more than one Nooka watch this is definitely a must have to keep all yours in one place, not to mention its sick. Go direct here