Supreme started as a skateboarding brand in 2005. This niche brand, deeply connected to the skateboarding community, saw its value explode, reaching over $2 billion by 2022. Supreme’s value was not created through marketing or advertising. Its value was created by the subculture of skateboarders who introduced the brand into the larger culture.
Supreme is not an anomaly; it’s a bellwether. Its success exemplifies this fundamental shift: subcultures, once on the fringe, now drive mainstream culture.
The power dynamic has flipped. Subcultures now shape mainstream culture, not the other way around. To succeed in business today, you need to understand this shift.
Here are six steps to harness this cultural transformation.
Understanding the New Dynamic
The power dynamic has flipped—subcultures now shape mainstream culture, not vice versa. To succeed in business today, you need to understand this shift.
We tend to think media companies and brands are the primary shapers of culture. They create products, we consume them, and influence flows from the top down. But this neat, linear model has collapsed.
Today, power increasingly lies with what was once called “subcultures”—communities bound by shared interests, aesthetics, and values that operate with remarkable independence from traditional cultural gatekeepers.
The evidence for this reversal is everywhere. Consider how Crocs went from medical footwear to fashion statement through queer communities and chef culture or how K-pop fandoms mobilize with political efficiency. Gaming collectives determine billion-dollar development decisions. Streetwear enthusiasts dictate luxury fashion trends. This isn’t audience participation—it’s audience dominance.
Using the New Model
This power flip challenges everything we thought we knew about how culture forms. The old model assumed that powerful institutions created and pushed culture downward. But today’s reality turns this upside down—subcultures actively transform mainstream offerings, redistributing cultural influence in ways no corporate entity can fully control.
Action Step #1: Stop targeting demographics and start understanding communities. The most dynamic subcultures aren’t defined by age, income, or location—identities marketers historically relied on—but by shared practices, insider knowledge, and communal engagement. The 65-year-old sneakerhead might have more in common with the 16-year-old collector than her retired peers.
The implications are profound for anyone seeking cultural relevance. Today’s most successful brands don’t try to create culture from thin air but instead identify and support existing subcultural currents. Supreme’s success wasn’t marketing wizardry; unwavering respect for skateboarding authenticity allowed the community to embrace rather than reject its mainstream success.
This pattern contradicts the classic fear that mass culture inevitably leads to sameness. Instead, we’re experiencing what cultural theorist Dick Hebdige described as a “plethora of youth cultural options” where elements “can be assembled and re-assembled by different groups in a limitless number of combinations.”
Action Step #2: Become a facilitator, not a dictator. For business leaders, this means radically rethinking how they approach cultural relevance. The traditional model of building a product and creating demand through advertising has become dangerously outdated. Instead, successful companies are becoming enablers of community-driven identities. Peloton isn’t selling exercise equipment; it’s enabling membership in a fitness subculture. Glossier isn’t selling makeup; it’s creating the infrastructure for a beauty community.
What’s particularly interesting about this shift is how it redefines authenticity. Authenticity isn’t about historical continuity or tradition—it’s about a genuine connection to a living community. When Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty with 40 foundation shades, the product’s success wasn’t just about inclusion as a marketing strategy; it was about honoring the practices and needs of diverse makeup users who had developed solutions to the industry’s shortcomings.
Action Step #3: Conduct ethnographic research, not just surveys. The most valuable cultural intelligence isn’t found in trend reports or focus groups but in understanding the genuine social dynamics of subcultural communities. This means moving beyond demographic research to ethnographic immersion. Don’t just survey your customers; understand their rituals, language, and status markers.
Action Step #4: Hire for subcultural fluency. The most valuable team members might not be those with traditional credentials but those with credibility in relevant subcultures. LVMH’s appointment of Virgil Abloh—who had no formal fashion training—to lead Louis Vuitton menswear wasn’t a publicity stunt but a recognition that subcultural fluency had become more valuable than conventional design education.
Action Step #5: Create reciprocal relationships, not exploitation. This doesn’t mean companies should cynically co-opt subcultures—that approach almost inevitably backfires. The new paradigm requires genuine reciprocity. When Epic Games incorporates fan-created dances into Fortnite while providing creators with attribution and economic opportunities, it’s not just appropriation—it’s a mutually beneficial relationship that strengthens the game and the broader community.
For individuals, this shift offers both opportunity and challenge. The good news is that personal interest, not social position, increasingly determines cultural access. The bad news is that genuine participation requires more than consumption—it demands active engagement and contribution. Buying the right products is insufficient for meaningful subcultural connection; you must develop competencies and relationships.
We’re witnessing a tactical shift in marketing and a fundamental restructuring of cultural power. Cultural dominance is never secure but constantly renegotiated through the push-pull between mainstream institutions and vibrant subcultures.
Build Tools, not Products.
In practical terms, the most critical cultural question isn’t “What’s trending?” but “Which communities are generating meaning that resonates beyond their boundaries?” The next billion-dollar business, artistic movement, or political force will likely emerge not from marketing departments or media conglomerates but from seemingly niche communities developing their cultural grammar.
Action Step #6: Build tools, not just products. The strategic implication is clear: Don’t try to create culture from the top down. Instead, build infrastructure that empowers communities to develop and express their cultural identities. The most valuable thing you can offer isn’t a product or message but tools for connection, creation, and meaning-making.
This isn’t just theoretical—it’s playing out in real-time across industries. When Nike succeeded with its Colin Kaepernick campaign, it wasn’t because it created a cultural moment but because it recognized and amplified one already unfolding within Black communities. When Discord grew to a $15 billion valuation, it wasn’t by dictating how people should communicate but by building flexible infrastructure that gaming communities could shape to their needs.
The power shift from institutions to subcultures represents the most significant change in how culture operates since the advent of mass media. Those who understand this transformation will thrive in the decades ahead; those who cling to the old top-down model will find themselves increasingly irrelevant, fighting for attention in a world where the real cultural conversations are happening elsewhere. The choice is clear: learn to dance with subcultures as partners or be left behind as they dance without you.
