I Never Realized that FUBU was Trying to Make a Comeback

FUBU, oh where do we start? My issue with FUBU making a comeback is that the company exists on marketing hype alone. Unlike other brands from there time, in particular Iceberg which had a similar strategy of putting out clothing that was cheaply made and ridiculously priced FUBU never did mature and come into its own. It had a lot of opportunities to, FUBU was popular for well over ten years. However FUBU absolutely refused to give buyers the quality that they were paying for and customers moved on to labels like Sean Jean, Rocawear and Cooji. Other exclusive brands like LRG, Evisu and Red Monkey also popped up and the writing was on the wall.

Now FUBU wants to come back with an FB Legacy line, which currently is nothing but black attire with the logo. In their commercials they make fun of other fashion forward lines like Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier that is no longer in style anyway. In fact that is what convinces me that FUBU is still out of touch and just does not get it as the hip-hop take on metrosexual style that Christian Audigier represents is so 2007.

Hip-hop style is very sophisticated these days and is light years ahead of where it was when FUBU was chic. Back then people didn't even care about quality and went with whatever corporations told them to wear. The brand was front and center and what made the clothing fashionable. These days however the brands take a back seat to the essence of what style the person wearing the threads is trying to convey. You do not need a $400 pair of Red Monkey or Evisu to be in style. You do not need logos to be chic. It is more about your own flavor and what you bring to the outfit that makes it chic.

Take for example what a local store around here, CREAM sells. Does FUBU have anything like this, this, or this? Does FUBU honestly think they can even compete with labels like Lacoste that aren't really hip-hop but are still sought after in the community? Those labels offer clothing that is high quality. Their entire rhetoric was that you were making a socio-political statement because designers like Ralph Lauren weren't really making clothing for us. At the time we wanted a baggy fit that those designers were not offering.

Anyone old enough to remember what happened back then know that the same designers that FUBU were fighting against began to actively pursue the urban demographic. Labels like Polo Sport and Tommy Jeans popped up and offered the look that we wanted. They even copied the cheap quality that was acceptable for that time and people started to break away from labels like FUBU. Polo Sport was cheap quality, I had a piece myself it was cool but it sucked in comparison to regular Polo Ralph Lauren, somewhere inbetween Chaps and Polo. Polo Jeans sucked as well it wasn't as good either.

FUBU needs to ask themselves a few questions and reflect upon what they are doing. Why are they coming back out with huge logos? Why are the same companies that existed before they came along still sought after by consumers in the inner city? Why are other corporations that came around after they started still in the hip-hop game? Why did they fail when they attempted to get into hair care products and plus sized clothing for women? Have they learned anything and are they serious about competing this time around or will they once again be the Pierre Cardin of hip-hop fashion? I would like to see FUBU back in the game in a major way, but I have my reservations and hope that they offer a real product this time around, as opposed to the fashion rhetoric they are known for ...