Enyce Clothing Purchased By Sean John Founder Sean Diddy Combs

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: October 22, 2008

Enyce Clothing brand officially has a new owner. Liz Claiborne Inc., the umbrella business to several fashion brands, sold all rights of the Enyce Clothing brand to Sean Diddy Combs. With the Hip-Hop clothing market being in very turbulent times, Mr. Combs’ Sean John Clothing is one of less than 10 major Hip-Hop clothing brands succeeding in staying abreast today’s urban market. The move to purchase the Hip-Hop brand Enyce is quite interesting as Diddy has opportunity to do something that may open the doors to more consumer markets.

“Enyce is a brand that I have always admired, and they have been a very important player in the young men’s sportswear arena for over a decade. I am really excited to bring it into our portfolio of brands that already includes Sean John and Zac Posen. Given our track record of success in marketing products such as Ciroc Vodka, Unforgivable by Sean John, and all of our television titles, I look forward to adding our expertise to an already hot fashion line. Our long-term plan is to grow the Enyce brand through innovative marketing, expansion of the menswear and boy’s lines, and launching into new licensing categories. The current economic climate may be challenging, but we believe it is also an opportunity, and we are really excited to add Enyce to our lineup,” said Sean Diddy Combs.

Liz Claiborne bought the Enyce Hip-Hop clothing brand in 2003 for $114 million. Company executives reported the company determined that it could not properly maximize the potential of Enyce. Very apparent the company is not geared to deal with a Hip-Hop clothing brand fluently, Enyce was sold to Sean Combs for a mere $20 million.

“The unsettled economic environment and our commitment to properly resource and focus on other brands in our portfolio contributed to this decision,” said Liz Claiborne Chief Executive William McComb in a statement of this sale.

Raking in $95 million in sales its first year under the Liz Claiborne company, Enyce Clothing has since faltered, along with many other hip-hop labels. Claiborne had already scaled back the line’s production and was looking for a buyer for Enyce, which caught Combs′ attention.

“For the purchase price of this Hip-Hop clothing brand, there are many directions Enyce can go towards. With its solid brand history and Hip-hop culture recognition, the typical Enyce Clothing design price range lands it in a very versatile position. Diddy could stick with the current formula and add some marketing or go radical and make it a top selling youth brand at Target, clearing profit either way for sure,” said Rodrick Rainey, founder of Hip-hop clothing industry site Sojones.com

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. Pronounced “En-Nee-Chay” by some and “N – Y – C” by others, the Enyce name is phonetic spelling of N-Y-C.