Enyce Clothing and Lady Enyce Clothing Brand Information... Hip Hop Clothing History

The Enyce clothing company was founded in March of 1996. Co-Founded by Evan Davis, Tony Shellman, and Lando Felix, the three had been long plotting an urban and Hip-Hop lifestyle clothing line that pooled togethor their many years of fashion industry experience. The three co-founders of Enyce originally met in 1994 while working for International News, a Seattle-based sportswear company. In 1996, when all ideas for their line were developed and complete, the three launched their Enyce clothing venture in New York.

Pronounced "En-Nee-Chay" by some and "N - Y - C" by others, the Enyce name is phonetic spelling of N-Y-C. Debated by many, the Enyce name was meant to sound out "En-Nee-Chay."



The Enyce brand made itself one of the most respected brands on Hip-Hop fashion's retail market by 2000. The clothing brand even expanded into women's wear with "Lady Enyce."

Enyce Holding LLC was acquired by Liz Clairborne Incorporated for $114 million in 2003. Karen Murray, president of men's wear for Liz Clairborne Inc, was carefully tracking a brand to buy out and found Enyce clothing to be her golden opportunity, buying all holdings from the Sport Brand International investment group.

At the time of purchasing, Enyce was raking in $95 million annually, competing successfully with labels such as Sean John and Rocawear.

A global fashion brand, Eynce has established business offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Los Angeles, Toronto (Canada), and Tokyo (Japan). The corporate headquarters for the Enyce brand is in the company's initial city, New York City.

Enyce has stayed true to its heritage and remains trend setters in the market segment. Since its conception, Enyce knew that in order to be set apart from the other brands Enyce would have to rely of its authenticity: NOT relying on athletic looks and novelty jeans wear or logo driven product. The Enyce Man or Woman does now always want to dress casual, especially when everyone else is doing the same thing. Enyce Design is, therefore, the best mix of cutting edge fashion, sophistication, and high quality product rooted in American Sportswear.

Enyce founder Tony Shellman's personal philosophy is reflected in much of Enyce's imaging - just be you. Although he recognizes the power of marketing and branding to influence others, Shellman also emphasizes that consumers should not be guided solely by marketing images, but rather they should guide marketers to create and develop representative products of their lifestyle -- reflecting who they are and who they want to be.

"The building of a brand is a belief, a way, a thought process. It's about bringing a brand to life -- taking the intangible and making it tangible by gaining insight into our consumers and sharing ideas, experiences, and lifestyles. It's not always about being number one or number two...sometimes it's just about being a great, respectable brand that our consumers connect with. We have had an excellent start, and it's our responsibility to build on that and take Enyce to a new level in the next chapter," says Shellman.