Louis Vuitton x Supreme collaboration. Photo: Dominique Charriau/Getty Images
After a public hearing on May 8 and a full board meeting held by Manhattan’s Community Board No. 2 on May 18, the proposal for a Louis Vuitton x Supreme pop-up at 25 Bond Street during the launch of the brands’ highly anticipated collaboration has been brutally rebuffed. Or, as the meeting’s notes reveal, “Therefore Be It Resolved that CB2 Manhattan STRONGLY recommends DENIAL of the Louis Vuitton/Supreme (Product) Launch, Bond St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery to be held from 6/29/17 – 7/2/17.” The unanimous decision was made by the board’s 32 members.
Five Bond Street residents were in attendance at the public hearing earlier this month to voice their “strong disapproval,” along with “many emails” sent to the Community Board office from Bond Street residents “expressing their outrage that such an event was being proposed for this quiet street.”
The Community Board also reports that Supreme was unable to present any sort of management plan for its expectancy of more than 1,000 customers (!), all of whom will likely line up for days in advance of the pop-up’s actual opening. (Though the Bond Street sidewalk was proposed to be closed for four days, the product launch and pop-up would only be active for two days.) And while Supreme will likely hire between 20 and 25 security guards for the launch, in addition to setting up sanctions — a fancy word for gates or barriers — over the course of those four days, the brand has yet to notify any of the businesses located on Bond Street of the closure and customer lines.
Other concerns by the Community Board for this particular event: customers sleeping on the sidewalk; public urination (“The applicant presented no plan as to where these 1000+ customers would use the bathroom while waiting for hours upon hours in the line,” states the meeting notes); lack of a line-management plan; lack of a plan to allow Bond Street residents to access their homes during the closure, particularly those in a wheelchair; as well as the inability to “articulate how this product launch will benefit the community in any way.”
However, this outcome comes as no surprise. Supreme is notoriously known for attracting lines of customers and resellers that span multiple blocks for its weekly drops outside of its Lafayette Street flagship. According to the Community Board, Supreme also has a history of violating New York City permit requirements for at least four unauthorized events in city parks. Moving forward, Manhattan’s Community Board No. 2 requests that all Street Activity Permit applicants regarding a line-forming product launch to appear before the board with a comprehensive plan to prevent “unnecessary disturbances that have been plaguing our community for the past several years.”
Photo: Giphy
We reached out to Louis Vuitton for comment and will update this post as we learn more.
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