Sean John Clothing Company – Blazing the Trail

Sean John Clothing is the brain child of Sean “Diddy” combs. The company was incorporated by Sean Combs in 1998 with the view of designing “streetwear” for young and trendy youths who had embraced hip-hop as a way of life.

The success of Sean John Clothing can be attributed to Diddy himself. Before incorporating Sean John Clothing, Diddy had made a name for himself in the music industry as a promoter, producer, composure and singer. There is no disputing the fact that Sean played a big role in creating a niche market for the hip-hop genre of music. Earlier in his musical careers, while working for Uptown Records, Sean was credited with the rise of groups such as Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. These groups benefited from Sean’s music production skills as they went on to command the hip-hop soul throne.

A man with a keen sense of business, Sean left Uptown Records in 1993, formed his own recording label, BadBoy Records. His Record Company then went on to cut a distributorship deal that had not been heard of in the music industry before. Badboy Records, under the stewardship of Sean Diddy Combs managed to negotiate for a joint partnership, 50 / 50 split, with Clive Davis, the CEO of Arista Records. Of course this wasn’t difficult for BadBoy Records to pull off given the fact that they list of artists read like the who is who in the music business during that time. Some of the names on the Company’s register include Mariah Carey, Christopher Wallace and Craig Mack. On top of that, the label had proved its worth by producing platinum and multi-platinum albums.

Hip-hop, not just the music but also the culture was rapidly spreading to the mainstream, and with this, Sean saw a new business opportunity, hip-hop apparel. In 1998 Sean formed a clothing company known as Sean John Clothing. The company was formed as a subsidiary of the Bad Boy Entertainment Group. At the time, the company was focused on the men’s market. Sean’s idea was to introduce urban clothing to the suburban mainstream markets. To get things rolling, Sean recruited Jeffrey Tweedy from Ralph Lauren to join Sean John Clothing as an executive.

Sean John’s Clothing made its debut into the fashion world in the spring of 1999 with the official launch of the Sean John men’s sportswear line. The line was an instant hit. Legions of hip-hop fans flocked retails shops to get their hands on the much coveted apparel, a fact that was not missed by the fashion world. The line’s huge success saw Sean nominated for a Council of Fashion Designers of America award in his category. Eventually Sean lost out to Marc Jacobs but Sean John Clothing had sent out a strong statement to competitors like Fubu and Phat Designs.

The following year saw the Sean John Clothing rake in over $100 million in revenues as customer numbers swelled. Sean’s used all he had learnt from the entertainment industry to propel Sean John Clothing to new heights. The company's high profile runway shows were attended by big names in the fashion and entertainment industry in general. In 2001, Sean John Clothing Company made another first when it broadcasted a live runway show on television.