Artists turned designers: Are they fashionably failing?

By Zyrus Cruz |Staff Writer|

The clothing industry is full of rappers, producers and singers who have attempted to join the designing world. Has it come to a point where they should stick to what they know or is designing their new calling?

Take, for instance, 50 Cents’ G-unit Clothing and Master P’s No Limit Clothing were brands that failed to live up to their hype. In fact, it would be a surprise to anyone if these brands were still being sported.
According to just-style.com, the number one reason clothing lines fail is because of change.

“The world changes and so too do our customers’ needs. We are the fashion industry, and in our industry either you are in the forefront of change or you are on your way out.”

G-unit Clothing, owned by 50 Cent and Marc Ekco Enterprises, closed its doors in 2004.
“They may be leaving their partner, but the G-unit brand is a base business of $75 million dollars annually, according to an allhiphop.com article in 2008.

It seems artists are doing everything to make an extra buck. Aren’t they already rich?

“Master P decided to add clothing to his portfolio. He even designed face plates for pre-paid mobile phones he sold to match the pieces in the line. But when No Limit records went bankrupt, everything else went with it.

No worries, though, Master P re-up’d and launched P. Miller clothing which is still going strong at Wal-Mart,” states an article on complex.com in 2009. On the other hand, some artists just don’t want to be very invloved in the clothing industry.

According to an article on nytimes.com in 2007, “Jay-Z is selling the rights to the brand Rocawear, the urban-style apparel line he co-founded, for $204 million in cash to the Iconix Brand Group.”

But not all artist brand’s fail. Surprisingly, Nelly’s Apple Bottom’s is still in existence.
“Nelly sends out the message that women of most sizes and shapes can be beautiful, and look and feel beautiful in what they are wearing. Nelly remains continuing to increase his line to garments, corduroy jumpsuits and components and this line must certainly be around for years and years to come,” according to ihaveateenager.com.

Another great fashion success story would be P. Diddy. According to Hiphopdx.com, “Diddy reportedly has done over $1 billion in sales of Sean John clothing through Macy’s stores.”
Lastly, there is the popular brand Billionaire Boys Club, owned by famous artist Pharrell Williams, Nigo and Jay-Z.

“Jay-Z and Pharrell are prepping a formal announcement that we’ll post as soon as it’s ready, but in the meantime, all the fashion business folks I’ve talk to agree that a larger licensing deal sets BBC up to fulfill its potential as a stand-alone brand, where in the past it’s been more of a limited edition pet project. But with Pharrell, the designers, and their home team at work…the Billionaire Boys Club design aesthetic that so many others have copied will stay intact,” according to missinfo.tv.

With the highly saturated market of clothing, designing and fashion, ultimately clothing is bound to be advertised within the lives of musicians.