Show and Sell

The guys from Fubu appear downright listless sitting around a conference table relaying the typical public relations spiel about their booming hip-hop clothing business.

In the midst of the interview, the twentysomething entrepreneurs dressed in their own brightly colored sportswear move to the break room in their Manhattan headquarters, where they begin a game of pool.

This is Fubu, run by four childhood friends who leveraged their street savvy and fashion sense into one of the fastest-growing urban fashion lines around.

This year, Fubu’s sales are expected to reach $200 million, up from last year’s $70 million. Not bad for a 6-year-old homespun business that initially was financed with credit cards and a second home mortgage.

Fubu, which stands for “for us, by us,” is regarded as an alternative to powerhouse brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Polo by Ralph Lauren and Nautica. Now sold at Macy’s, Nordstrom, Foot Locker, Champs and thousands of specialty shops, Fubu is marketed as a status collection created by guys with their finger on the pulse of the street.

With rapper LL Cool J as its spokesman and a slew of celebrities wearing the brand’s “FB” logo, Fubu is finding its niche not only among young people in urban centers, but in suburbs, rural settings and abroad. The fact that the company is run by four African American men does not go unnoticed.

“It’s hot, and I like the fact that the money we spend on the clothes is staying in the community,” said Maximo Reyes, a 17-year-old African American high school student in New York.

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Still, Fubu has nowhere near the name recognition of Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren. And the nature of trendy urban garb makes it a target for short-lived fame, with young consumers always on the prowl for the cool brands of tomorrow.

Southern California-based Cross Colours, for instance, sizzled in the early 1990s, but the hip-hop clothing company couldn’t keep up with orders and faded out. There also are dozens of rival urban lines such as Ecko, Wu-Wear, Mecca and Triple 5 Soul moving up the same grass-roots pipeline that Fubu did.

To keep Fubu fresh, founders Daymond John, Keith Perrin, J. Alexander Martin and Carl Brown must build a brand, not just produce the same old nylon pants and bubble jackets that worked in the past.

This fall, Fubu will launch its women’s collection at about 500 retail stores. The line, licensed to Jordache Enterprises Inc., will be more body-conscious than the oversize men’s clothes, with cropped tops, tight sweaters and short dresses. For men, Fubu will continue to offer baseball and football jerseys, sweatshirts and jackets with prices ranging from $30 for a T-shirt to $500 for a jacket.

Fubu is also delving into eye wear, sneakers, fragrances, lounge wear, boys’ clothes, bags, watches and socks. All of these products will be produced through licensing arrangements.

Fubu does some television and print advertising on Black Entertainment Television and MTV and in Vibe, Source and Slam, but it can’t afford to spend the millions on marketing and advertising that a Tommy Hilfiger or a Ralph Lauren can. Instead, Fubu has built its brand by encouraging the right celebrities to wear its clothes.

So far, such low-budget marketing tactics have resulted in A-list celebrities such as actor Will Smith, singer Mariah Carey and rapper Sean “Puffy” Combs making public appearances in Fubu attire. Fubu clothes have also shown up on television shows such as “Moesha,” “New York Undercover,” “Sister, Sister” and “The Wayans Brothers.”

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To further promote the Fubu name in the right circles, John and his buddies frequent the hippest clubs, attend premieres and schmooze with movie stars, athletes and rap artists.

“Of course it’s part of marketing,” said Leslie Short, Fubu’s marketing director. “All four boys dress in Fubu every day, thinking someone new may see it.”

John’s entrance into the fashion world came in 1992, when he started sewing and selling “tie-top” hats on New York streets. People scooped up the hats, inspiring him to expand into coats and shirts.

After John’s mother remortgaged their home for $100,000 and gave him the money, he transformed their Queens residence into a factory and recruited Perrin, Brown and Martin to help him launch Fubu.

By their own admission, their earliest designs were ugly. They couldn’t afford high-quality fabrics, and they couldn’t keep up with orders.

“We had lots of orders but no money to make the clothes,” said John, a former Red Lobster waiter.

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To get the Fubu name afloat, John and partners took their clothes to neighborhood friend LL Cool J, pleading with him to wear the clothes.

“They would ring his doorbell, and he would look at what they brought him and say, ‘No, man, I’m not feeling it,’ ” Short said. “Finally, after about 11 tries, he took one of their T-shirts and performed in it. Then he came back and said, ‘What else do you have?’ ”

After a picture of the Fubu-clad rapper ran as an ad in Source, the Fubu name started to get around. Some point to the LL Cool J ad as Fubu’s big break, but John said there was no one break.

“There were about 200 different things that happened,” he said.

The “boys,” as Short calls them, showed up at rap video shoots, hoping artists would agree to wear their clothes. After the rap group Brand Nubian sported the Fubu logo in one of its videos, the Fubu buzz spread further.

In 1995, the partners took their clothes to the Magic apparel trade show in Las Vegas. They couldn’t afford a booth, but it didn’t matter. Using their hotel room as a showroom, they sold $300,000 worth of clothing.

Soon after, Samsung America agreed to distribute the clothes, allowing Fubu to increase its distribution.

Last year, Macy’s came on board, which elevated Fubu from being just a specialty store label.

But retailers say Fubu’s distribution has been problematic, with clothes frequently arriving late or orders being botched. One retailer who did not want to be identified said his Christmas shipment arrived only a week before the holiday.

“Kids can’t get enough of Fubu, but the distribution is a nightmare,” the retailer said. “I think they’re having trouble keeping up with the demand.”

Short said Fubu’s distribution problems are common among fast-growing fashion companies and that her company has tried to tighten its distribution by not opening new accounts.

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Some also complain that Fubu clothes are too expensive. But John said Fubu is less expensive than Tommy Hilfiger or Polo, with quality that is just as high.

“We get some flak on some items,” John said. “The assumption is because we’re black designers, we shouldn’t sell expensive clothes.”

Although John has ambitious goals for Fubu, he stresses that he does not want Fubu to grow at any expense.

“We’ll be happy if sales can stay at this level, or if they double and triple as long as the line still has integrity,” he said. “I wouldn’t want this line to be a billion-dollar line in Kmart.”