Supra has opened doors at an interactive multipurpose hub.
The label on Saturday launched its Melrose/Fairfax Creative Space pop-up store at 7823 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, and it will continue through Labor Day.
It’s at the epicenter of L.A.’s trendiest boutiques, vintage shops and streetwear fashion — an apt spot that resonates with the brand’s style.
The lifestyle-meets-retail experience includes a lounge for guests to beat the heat, new merchandise and an art installation where Supra’s longtime creative partner Chad Muska presents his latest projects.
Speaking to Footwear News, Muska said that he conceived of the summer hangout spot as a way to bring people together.
“It’s an interactive experience of creating and displaying the products — it’s a look at the inspiration behind creating these products, which comes from art,” Muska explained.
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Guests also have opportunities to shop for exclusive “Melrose/Fairfax”-branded T-shirts and sneakers, including the new rereleased Skytop III.
“Sometimes things go full circle and come back again,” Muska said of the Skytop III, which was originally released in 2011.
“At its time, it was a little bit ahead of what was going on,” he recalled. “At the time, in skateboarding vulcanized high-tops were the hot seller, so we switched it on purpose to do this mid-top, and it was a shock to everyone. The Skytop I was ultra-high for its time, and the Skytop II was even higher, but with the Skytop III they thought, ‘Is it going to go up to the knee?’ ”
The mid-top sneaker retails for $100 online and is available in red, black and white colorways.
Among the added features, the former rubber cage on the side of the shoe has been replaced with a perforated triangle print.
“It made the shoe lighter and allowed for more flexibility,” Muska said of the new style. “It’s exciting to me to see something that we created in the past get hype again without having to change too much of what it was.”
Looking back at a decade collaborating with the skateboarding brand, Muska attributed the label’s success to its diverse team members.
“Our interests outside of skateboarding led to the footwear designs appealing to people outside of skateboarding, too,” Muska explained. “We wanted shoes to wear not only when we were skating, but also when we weren’t. To see skateboarding morph into streetwear and streetwear into high fashion, it’s very different now than when I came up with it.”
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