Before Fashion Nova changed the game with fly, affordable clothing, there were clothing lines and fashion brands that made sure folks always looked their best — but on a budget. Brands like FUBU, which literally stands for For Us By Us, were specifically designed to give Black folks their own lane in the fashion industry. Creators of the sportswear brand, Daymond John, Keith Perrin, J. Alexander Martin and Carl Martin, recently spoke out on how much racism plagues the fashion industry:
“Remember how much flak we got when people thought we were only for black people? But we weren’t. We came out and said, ‘Who’s ever going to respect and value the hip-hop culture?’ Because we heard all these brands didn’t respect rappers or African-Americans. We weren’t going to be prejudiced like we thought other people were. You only see the four of us here, but in our peak we had 400 [employees] and I think we were evenly broken up with Asian, African-American, Middle Eastern, Jewish.”
The brand was so impactful and monumental to the culture that Solange made a song about it.
When explaining her lyrics to F.U.B.U to Genius, Solo said:
“I remember reading stories on the product placement, and seeing LL Cool J wearing a FUBU hat in a national GAP advertisement. FUBU exhibited Blackness in any space, on a huge global level, and that is what I wanted to do with the song.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that the popular brand was making a comeback, and Black Twitter was hilariously hyyype.
“They tryna bring back Fubu and Blackplanet. Ja Rule back in trouble with the law. Y’all tryna turn this back to 02-03 again huh?” – @JunoDaHippie
“If you think imma cop some FUBU at a reasonable price in the year of 2019, you’re damn right!” – @Cool_Mintz
“FUBU and baby phat coming back. B2K and Pretty Ricky back on tour. A new “bad boys” is coming out. Its really 2003 right now” -@BellaRoona_
Speaking of nostalgic brands, Kimora Lee Simmons also announced that she was bringing Baby Phat back. The mogul posted a video on Instagram with the caption, “Guess who’s bizaack… 😍#DontMakeMeHaveToRelapseOnThese…. #HappyInternatinationalWomensDay”
“Baby Phat is the original bad bitch attire” – @BumbleXbeee
“I’m gone need them baby phat jumpsuits in EVERY color. Lol”— @Star_Maviya
We put together a list of brands that totally For Us, By Us. Take a look walk down memory lane at the dopest clothing brands that were adored by the hood.
1. Iceberg Jeans
Source:Instagram
2. Phat Farm
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3. Coogi
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4. Lugz
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5. Wu Wear
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6. Girbaud Jeans
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7. Z. Cavaricci
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8. F.U.B.U.
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9. IOU
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Style and comfort.
10. Pepe Jeans
Source:Instagram
11. Baby Phat
Source:Instagram