“The Clothes Don’t Make The Man” by Badnews

Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tags: baby phat , Diddy , fubu , Jay-Z , phat farm , rocawear , sean john

The clothes don’t make the man, the man makes the clothing. I probably butchered that saying but the point is, you don’t have to spend a million bucks on clothing just to look like a million bucks, a nice crisp white T- Shirt and some blue jeans usually do the trick for me on my casual days (which is 90% of the time) and a nice suit once in a while will help out too. However unlike Tommy Danger, I’m not a fashion guru, so I have to keep my fashion advice to a minimum. I say all that, to say this; hip hop and fashion go together like Paul Wall and gold platinum grills, Jay-Z and Beyonce and Ray J and 13 ladies in a Palms Casino suite in Vegas… you just can’t have one without the other. If you’re a multi-platinum rapper or R&B superstar chances and you had your own clothing line, then you’ll be interested this edition of Power Rankings in which I rank the top-5 popular clothing lines inspired by hip hop and dedicated to it’s fans

5. Phat Farm- Created by hip-hop mogul (and philanthropist according to the Rush card commercial) Russell Simmons, the line launched in 1992. What’s so obvious about this name? Its the word “Phat”, which was slang back then which was used with the word farm in the same breath. Farms are in rural areas and the word Phat was once used in urban areas. The two words combined to make the clothing line name into slick way of saying when urban clashes with rural style this is what you get… or it was just a cool name for your clothing line, either way since the early 90’s, the line raked in revenue reaching over $300 million on it’s own and also spawned Run Athletics, Baby Phat and Pastries, the shoe line from his nieces the Simmons sisters Angela and Vanessa. Now if you were in the public school system growing up during this era, then you probably owned at least one article of clothing by Phat Farm and with ad campaigns that reached a demo graph from the street kids with the shirts, hoodies and jeans to the library nerds and the young street guys who were not really the thugs but more of the popular kids that were in school. Also, the conglomerate didn’t have a hard time reaching the children no matter what background age or color, as evidenced with there diverse styles colors, and fits from this revolutionary line. But just like the seasons, things change. The line died and Russell wound up selling off the Phat Farm brand a couple years ago and just like the label Russell co-founded, Phat Farm became the blueprint for one of the ways a entrepreneur could really get his side hustle on.

4. FUBU- “For us by us” is what this mega clothing line name stood for. It meant for the the hip hop culture that understood what we liked to wear and how we liked to wear it. Another clothing line also launched in 1992. It was started by Daymond John, this company started out first making hats in Queens, NY. When he realized he was on to something, he collected what money he had and went into business with his friends Carl Brown, J. Alexander Martin, and Keith Perrin and turned his hat line into a $350 million world wide sensation. What made this line stand out was not just the acynomn that some children misconstrued, you know it was for black people so only black people should wear it, but the fact that it wasn’t the hats that really made them a world wide hit, but rather the shiny football jerseys that represented the US regions such as the East coast, West Coast and even Dirty South. Fubu even had a line of tuxedos. However, this conglomerate is now defunct. But yo, back in the day they gave corporate giant, Nike a run for their money.

3. Baby Phat- You know how everyone argues that The Godfather 2 was the greatest sequel of all time? Well technically every urban fashion designer argues now that Baby Phat is the greatest spawn of all time. When Phat Farm was too rough and tough for a female to wear, Baby Phat stepped in to fill that void, it was the answer for Phat Farm. It was for the woman who wanted to look and feel sexy. Created by former model and wife of Russell Simmons, Kimora Lee, the line launched in 1998, and since then has made a staggering $980 million world wide, and that number keeps climbing because the line is still up and running and is still selling its sexy shirts, hip hugging jeans and stylish and elegant handbags for women. Kimora lee saw a opportunity and jumped on it. This conglomerate definitely has a stranglehold on that demo graph for sure.

2. Sean John – Some people might say, “Don’t quit your Day Job”, But in the case of Sean Diddy Combs, he should do the exact opposite… he doesn’t really even rap anyway. 1998, Diddy launched the line with fellow friend and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle. Just like Baby Phat, Sean John is putting up numbers and by numbers I mean to this date the line is making $100 million annually. Imagine splitting 100 million bucks seven different ways every year. What makes his line a cut a above the rest is not only is Diddy hands with the ad campaigns, but also the line is still functioning because of the certain people in the fashion industry who he does business with. For instance Sean John invested in a high end label Zac Posen, and on August 1, 2008 named former Old Navy brass Dawn Robertson the president off the line. Diddy also was the first person to nationally televise their runway show during fashion week and also purchased Liz Claiborne and Enyce to even have a further tighten the brand’s grasp on the fashion industry. Sean John is definitely relevant for a reason.

1. Rocawear- The beast of the hip hop fashion game Rocawear is still going strong surprisingly. Created in 1999 by Jay-Z and Damon Dash, the line is the most successful urban clothing line of all time. Also with the line launching Team Roc, State Property and even re-launching Pro Keds within itself, it is no wonder Rocawear brings home a jaw dropping $700 million worldwide… annually. Covering the bases and selling everything from handbags, men’s jeans and even fur “outwear”, the line has the block and the penthouse covered. Even though the company was sold for $204 million, Jay-Z still has the last say on what goes out from the line to the people. Rocawear looks like it might not be as popular as it once was, but it is still very relevant and with the launch of their new cologne 9X, it might just the right thing to revamp the company.

Source: BadNews – Contributor to HipHopRuckus

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