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 multimilliondollar brand . As FUBU took off , so did John ’ s celebrity in the rap industry . His homework was paying off .
A - AMORE
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 amore — love ,” John said . “ I would ’ ve dressed people for free for the rest of my life .”
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 , Europe the next six , and partying every day with rappers in between — rappers who weren ’ t even wearing FUBU anymore . ( Ironically , they were wearing another clothing brand John owned .)
But this didn ’ t matter to his family . Fast forward a few years , and John was married with two little girls , Yasmeen and Destiny . Yet , the family rarely saw him . Instead , he was turning into the father who had left him at 10 . His wife was stuck taking care of the family ’ s eight houses and two daughters with nobody to talk to . Eventually , she had enough and filed for divorce .
“ I remember my ex-wife calling me up and saying , ‘ I didn ’ t leave because I don ’ t love you ; I left because I do love you ,’” John said . He had a stark realization that he had lost himself and the love FUBU was built on . The guiding principles he believed in were no longer a part of
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 .