Jay-Z And Rocawear Launching New Custom Fit Clothing Line For Men

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: August 31, 2006

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Can an edgy urban fashion brand stay relevant to its young customers and simultaneously go mainstream?

That’s the challenge facing Rocawear, the brand co-owned and founded by Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. Rocawear is launching a new men’s line this fall, hoping to reach an older, broader audience. In the biggest marketing splurge in its seven-year history, the company is spending $2 million to promote its brand, especially the new “Custom Fit” label, a slimmed down version of the big baggy silhouettes that have been a hallmark of hip hop attire for the past decade.

The line, to be sold in specialty and department stores, minimizes the big logos of the past and includes sporty striped polo shirts, jackets and a number of jeans styles priced from $69 to $89. Jackets, pants and shirts are cut slimmer than its signature, full-cut styles.

Rocawear hopes to target men who didn’t wear urban brands in the past and might have been turned off by their extreme looks. The line is also aimed at 30-something men who grew up with hip hop but are now defecting to other brands as they seek more mature looks.

Mr. Carter, the 35-year-old Grammy Award-winning rapper is also chief executive of Def Jam Recordings and part owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, is a walking advertisement for the new slim silhouette. “Once I hit 30, I can’t wear jeans showing my underpants anymore,” he says.

Over the past five years, department stores expanded hip hop collections and now consider urbanwear a key category for menswear that attracts trendy men of all ages. Lately, the urban clothing market became overcrowded with an array of small fashion collections by hip hop artists. Many of them, including a line from rap star Snoop Dogg, have since failed.

Retailers say the remaining top brands will need to appeal to a broader audience if they want to survive and grow. “All urban companies have had to start looking outside themselves,” says Theresa Scott, executive vice president at Rocawear, a closely held company that says its sales are more than $500 million, including licensed products such as watches and sunglasses.

Several of Rocawear‘s competitors have already tested new dressier concepts to appeal to the 30-something customer. Sean John, owned by rap impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs, sent pinstriped suits down the runways in 2004 and now has a small collection sold at retail. This fall, Sean John is adding jeans with three different fits, including a lean-fit straight-legged style. Likewise, the Marc Ecko label has offered sportcoats and tuxedos in its line in the past several years. At the same time, many have toned down the huge logos once associated with hip-hop style. The new Rocawear logos, for instance, are often discreetly placed out of full view, like on hems of shirts.

Sean Ramsay, a 29-year-old talent brand manager for celebrities and experts, grew up in suburban New Jersey wearing Polo and Calvin Klein. He says he “couldn’t pull off wearing Cross Colors,” a top-selling urban label back then.

But now, Mr. Ramsay says his style of dressing outside the office is more personal with a mix of brands which include tops and jeans from Sean John and Rocawear. “The urban brands have a newfound focus when it comes to fashion. They have turned it up a couple of notches,” he says. His current favorite pair of jeans — loose but not baggy — are from Sean John. “I get tons of compliments on those jeans.”

Rocawear plans to erect a temporary “pop-up store” during New York fashion week at sneaker boutique Training Camp, across the street from the Bryant Park fashion-show tents Aug. 29 to Sept. 15.

Arguably one of young men’s most powerful fashion role models in the U.S., Mr. Carter once rapped about wanting to wear button-downs in his 2004 song, “What More Can I Say?” leading millions of young black and Hispanic men to copy his look. In June, Mr. Carter effectively launched a boycott of $450 Cristal Champagne, after one of Cristal’s executives made remarks that left him with the impression that the brand was trying to distance itself from the hip hop crowd.

To get the word out during fashion week, Mr. Carter will host a number of celebrity-studded events in conjunction with fashion magazines Complex, Vibe, Details and Teen Vogue. And he’ll wear the clothes on his international concert tour this fall. In addition to its ads, Rocawear’s fashions are regularly featured on the stars of the hit HBO TV series “Entourage.”

At a lunch last month for Rocawear’s top retail accounts, Mr. Carter told buyers that creating the new line was partly a defensive move. He noted that customers were defecting to brands such as Red Monkey and Chip and Pepper. “We were losing business by default because we didn’t have the slimmer fit some older guys wanted. We had to do something about it,” Mr. Carter says.

Some buyers at the lunch expressed concern about whether shoppers would be confused by seeing two silhouettes priced at the same level and displayed side by side. “For this to work they have to have enough items; it has to be a significant position or it will get lost,” says Scott Collins, a vice president of the Baltimore-based Downtown Locker Room chain.

Some retailers note that while Mr. Carter has the power to drive sales, he usually wears a mix of brands, including Ralph Lauren’s Purple Label, rather than sticking to his own brand. “People love and respect this man,” says Uzi Daniel, owner of Dr. Denim boutiques in Philadelphia. “He doesn’t need to wear Rocawear exclusively — that would be a sell out. But he isn’t wearing it enough.” Mr. Carter, who acknowledges that he mixes brands, says he will wear Rocawear more in the future.