He began broadening his understanding by studying the fashion brands adored by his peers but realized that many brands had unspoken disdain for the people who were buying their products . One of them , Timberland , even went so far as to put an ad in the New York Times declaring they didn ’ t sell or make their boots for “ drug dealers .”
John was incensed . He was working two jobs , having picked up a second at Red Lobster , in order to buy things like Timberland boots , because his homework told him those were the boots his hip-hop heroes wore . But those same boots on his feet were sold by a company that was calling him and his community criminals . “ Who ’ s ever going to support , love , and value the customer who ’ s purchasing their goods ?” he thought . Well , he was .
“ I ’ m going to come up with a name ; it ’ s going to be four letters ,” he decided . “ It ’ s not going to be about a color , because I ’ m not going to be a bigot the same way Timberland is ; it ’ s going to be about a culture .” He went home and created a shirt and hat emblazoned with the letters BUFU : By Us , For Us . A few days later , John flipped the letters to FUBU , and a business was born .
John ’ s lifelong homework came in handy when it came to marketing FUBU on a shoestring budget , and his love for the business he was creating is what propelled it forward . He ’ d show up at video shoots and convince rappers to wear his FUBU clothing . He asked business owners in large cities if he could remove the graffiti on their storm gates and paint them white , slapping an “ Authorized FUBU Dealer ” stencil on them , making FUBU familiar to anyone who walked , drove , or rode by after hours . He harangued hip-hop ’ s biggest star , LL Cool J , for a promotional photo , making him the company ’ s first spokesperson . He found out about the MAGIC show , an industry event where he could launch FUBU on a wide scale . He and his partners didn ’ t even have a booth when they arrived , but they left with $ 300,000 in orders .
The thing is , he didn ’ t have $ 300,000 to spend on creating these orders . Instead , he turned to the woman who had been his business partner since he was 6 years old when he was selling pencils to the kids at school : his mom , or Ms . John , as she likes to be known publicly . She was able to acquire a $ 100,000 loan against their $ 75,000 house , and John and his business partners funneled that loan and the money they had made at the tradeshow into creating a makeshift sewing operation in their home . They would sleep in sleeping bags on the ground , clothes were stacked to the ceiling , and by the end of it all , there was only $ 500 left in the bank .
Again , John had a problem . He was lacking the financial savvy he needed to get the clothes out the door before his money ran dry . And , again , his mom stepped up . She asked him to save $ 2,000 from his job at Red Lobster , and then she would help him out . When he handed her the $ 2,000 , Ms . John placed an advertisement in the local newspaper that read , “$ 1 million in orders — need financing .” That ad generated 33 calls offering help . Three of them were legitimate , and one was Samsung ’ s textile ’ s division .
With backing from Samsung , FUBU sold $ 300 million worth of products in just three months . As FUBU continued to grow , John kept studying and fueling his passion . He learned about distribution , manufacturing , staffing , and everything else required for functioning as a multimillion-dollar brand . As FUBU took off , so did John ’ s celebrity in the rap industry . His homework was paying off .
A - AMORÉ
For John , sleeping in a sleeping bag next to a sewing machine didn ’ t feel like sacrifice . Learning new skills and doing his homework was never a problem . Waking up at 6 a . m ., sewing , selling his shirts , working at Red Lobster until midnight , and sewing again until 2 a . m . never felt like work . All of the challenges he faced were surmountable because his passion never waned , and his brand grew because of it . “ The single thing that every successful person I ’ ve ever met has in common is amoré , love ,” John said . “ I would ’ ve dressed people for free for the rest of my life .”
No matter how big FUBU grew , John believed his love for the business would grow with it , and FUBU was on the cusp of booming . Years later , LL Cool J would covertly rap about FUBU in a Gap ad while wearing a FUBU hat . The company ’ s advertising team was targeting the market that LL and his hip-hop partners had built , but they never caught the subtle mention by LL before airing the advertisement . The hip-hop community would flock to Gap stores because they believed LL was telling them they could purchase FUBU clothing at Gap , only to leave without purchasing anything in search of FUBU elsewhere , John explained .
After Gap ’ s fiasco , FUBU would grow even larger than it had after Samsung ’ s backing . Suddenly , John had made it big time , and his personal celebrity star was rising . He wasn ’ t just this up-and-coming kid from Queens in the hip-hop world anymore . He was Daymond John , and he was living in Asia for six months ,
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