From Jay-Z to Rocawear

Jay-Z, one of the known American hip-hop artist that released the album Reasonable Doubt, an album ranked by Rolling Stone as #248 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and the critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint, was also known for his knack the world of business. Aside from the recording label Roc-A-Fella, Jay-Z is also the founder of the popular clothing line Rocawear.

rocawear is an urban clothing label created in 1995 by Jay-Z and Damon Dash.The name was derived from Jay-Z's recording label Roc-A-Fella. Because of the its huge popular in the urban community, rocawear has reported to recieve an annual sales of $700 Million.

Rocawear main line was with clothing lines and accessories for men, women and children. But after its apparent success in the industry, the founders of rocawear decided to expand its line through licensing pacts to develop lines for children, juniors, socks and sandals, leather suede and fur outerwear, handbags and belts, lounge wear and big & tall, headwear, jewelry, and sunglasses; as well as co-branded product with Pro-Keds, State Property, and Team Roc.

After some time, rocawear was then taken over by Jay-Z in early 2006 following a falling out with co-founder Damon Dash. But it was in March 2007, that Jay-Z sold the rights to the rocawear brand to Iconix Brand Group, for $204 million.

Iconix Brand Group is a brand management company that licenses brands to retailers and manufacturers primarily in the apparel, footwear, and apparel accessory industries. Its brands are available in such stores as Kohl's, Kmart, Sears, Macy's, Mervyn's, Target and JC Penney.

The company began as Candie's, Inc., whose brand it purchased in 1993. The Bongo brand was purchased in 1998. The Badgley Mischka brand was purchased in 2004. The Joe Boxer and Rampage brands were acquired on July 22, 2005 and September 15, 2005, respectively. In 2006, the company acquired the Mudd, London Fog, Mossimo, Ocean Pacific brands on April 11, August 29, November 1, and November 6, respectively. The company continued with acquisitions in 2007 with the purchase of Danskin and Rocawear brands.

Even though rocawear's management changed from a hip-hop artist to a clothing brand company, fans of the brand could still enjoy its fashionable hip-hop feel for Jay-Z still retained his position as the head designer of the rocawear brand.