Supreme International Ltd history

When owner John Meyer, diagnosed with cancer, was forced to sell the company, Ellis, in 1974, went to work for The Vera Companies as vice-president and merchandise manager of its sportswear division.

Although he refused at first, Ellis finally accepted the position, taking over in January 1975.

The result would be the Portfolio collection in the fall of 1976 and Ellis's quick ascent as a premier fashion designer.

Supreme International was still quite small in 1980, with sales of $5 million and profits around $50,000, when Oscar turned 20, joined the company, and set about establishing Supreme's own brands.

By 1981, the Feldenkreis importing group was a $30 million business, although Supreme International represented only $5 million of that total.

In 1982 Perry Ellis signed another seven licensing deals.

To support his family he decided to start another import business, because, as he told the South Florida Business Journal in 1986, "Cubans were more experienced with import techniques than American because so much of the Cuban economy depended on imports.'

In addition, in 1988 McDonald hired Claudia Thomas, another longtime friend of Perry Ellis, who had experience as a marketer of home furnishings.

Polo Ralph Lauren, which started its golf line in 1989, was soon joined by Tommy Hilfiger, Georgio Armani, and Haggar, and department stores began introducing private label collections, such as Federated's Arnold Palmer, Dayton Hudson/Marshall Field's Payne Stewart, and Nordstrom's Callaway.

Due to his efforts (and Natural Issue), in fiscal 1990 Supreme International accounted for 39 percent of the overall sales of the Feldenkreis family holdings.

By 1991, Oscar was heading Supreme International as executive vice-president for marketing and sales.

Natural Issue proved so successful for Supreme International that the company made an initial offering of stock in May 1993, raising almost $14 million, to fund expansion.

Thomas decided to leave Perry Ellis when her contract expired in 1994.

Inc. explained in a 1995 Investor's Business Daily article, "Supreme is way ahead of the game for a company of its size.

The company started 1996 by repurchasing shares of its common stock, considering the price undervalued.

Supreme International's two purchases, combined with increased sales of its own labels, resulted in sales for fiscal 1997 of $155.7 million.

Revenue for fiscal 1998 reached $190.7 million.

In January 1999 the trustees of the Perry Ellis estate decided to sell the company to Supreme International for $75 million in an all-cash transaction.

In November 2000 it paid $1.75 million for the Mondo trademarks.

Miami Business magazine chronicles George Feldenkreis’ business acumen in a March 2001 cover story.

Dinesh Ramaraju (Chief Executive Officer SIE). Since 2012, Mr.

In 2013, SIE established an ongoing academic exchange with German and European based Schools and Universities.