Rocawear is a clothing empire focused on urban wear. Founded by the co-founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, Jay-Z and Damon Dash in 1999, this has long provided different types of clothing and accessories for the hip hop fanatics including suede, leather, socks and sandals, headwear, sunglasses, handbags, belts, shirts fur outerwear, hoodies and jewelry among others. Although Shawn “Jay-Z†Carter is one of the creators of Rocawear clothing, it failed to blow away many fashionistas.
The Cause
It is no secret that urban wear is not preferred by most fashion advocates. Usually, most of them look down on anything street and hip hop. Many of them would rather possess a blouse that has a small print of the brand name that they are wearing instead of a huge black cat on the entire front of the shirt. Fashionistas believe that most urban brands have produced tacky, overdone and cheap creations but are aimed at the mainstream buyers.
Consequently, several consumers have seen this trend and thus they steered away from urban fashion. This affected Rocawear clothing and its audience. Apart from that, allegations surfaced including the controversial issue about tanuki. On the 17th of January in 2007, some Rocawear pieces were said to be made up of tanuki or raccoon-dog fur particularly two jacket styles.
When such allegations were made, Rocawear clothing immediately pulled out the garments that were said to contain the furs of the animals. According to a representative of the company, they did not know that fu was utilized to make the clothes and hence they notified the manufacturers that such practice was not permitted. In addition to that, they also removed the items from their official website.
A Few Changes Have Been Made
In March of 2007, rapper and founder Jay-Z sold the Rocawear brand for more than 200 million dollars to Iconix Brand Group. However, he still maintains his stake in the business venture and has promised that he will continue to manage and supervise the development of the products, licensing and marketing activities.
In 2009, they now have their first site for social networking where the fans of their brand can interact with them. They offer news about style and fashion, music fashion and other connections in urban culture. R&B star Ciara has then signed an agreement to be the new model of Rocawear clothing.
The Strong Comeback
While there are still fashionistas that look down on urban fashion set, many have changed their minds especially this season. Rocawear has introduced items that are stylistic and are made of good quality. The designs in the end emulate a much higher-end aesthetic.
Since then, the brand has been loved by most urban fans as well as those who find street style appealing. Although it may be hard for others to love the whole collection wholly, Rocawear clothing challenges the fashion experts to mix and match the apparel for a more fashion forward look.
More than ten years have passed and Rocawear is still standing strong and actually it is stronger than ever. As the ads are distributed and new collections or items are introduced, this brand has indeed celebrated its long term existence in style. Among the famous people who have been the face of Rocawear were celebrity actress Joy Bryant and supermodel Jessica White.
Right now, Rocawear clothing is not only for those who are comfortable in urban style. The brand is also reaching out to a more sophisticated audience as they showcase chic fashion and looks that appeal to the conventional buyers.
Indeed, Rocawear clothing has captured a whole new set of consumers and therefore, this has introduced the rebirth of a now iconic urban brand.
