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New Strategy for Billionaire Boys Club
by DAVID LIPKE
A Heady Blend of hip-hop and hipster royalty converged on Masaharu Morimoto's Tribeca Canvas in New York on Tuesday evening to toast the 10th anniversary of Pharrell Williams' Billionaire Boys Club brand.
Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Terry Richardson, Charlotte Ronson, the artist Kaws, diamond maven Lorraine Schwartz, BBC cofounder Nigo, BET president of music programming Stephen Hill and Iconix Brand Group Inc. chief executive officer Neil Cole were among those on hand when Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Beyonc(c) Knowles breezed into the intimate dinner party, which was sponsored by HTC.
Jay-Z and Iconix are now partners with Williams in BBC and its younger, action-sports offshoot, Ice Cream. The recent marriage of Williams' niche streetwear brand with Jay-Z's Roc Apparel Group -- which also markets Rocawear under license from Iconix -- fused the former's long-standing cult appeal with the latter's advanced production capabilities. Add in licensing expertise from Iconix -- BBC is planning a raft of new licenses in areas like footwear, accessories, fragrance and eyewear -- and it adds up to a potent formula for growth.
"We don't do those things loudly, we just do them proudly," said Williams of his low-key approach to building his two brands, which have see-sawed in sales over the past decade. The partnership with Jay-Z and Iconix has lit a fire under those numbers.
BBC and Ice Cream will do $25 million to $30 million in volume this year, split evenly between the brands, said Michael Prendergast, ceo of Roc Apparel Group. That's up sharply from $2 million to $4 million the brands were doing prior to the Roc Apparel license. Over the past decade, the most the brands ever did was $12 million at their peak, noted Prendergast, accentuating the quick growth under Roc Apparel.A look from Bee Line.
"It's become very successful, very quickly and volume levels have exceeded expectations for this first year," said Prendergast. "We could double it next year, but we are holding back on the growth. We are approaching it as a slow burn over a multiyear period and we want to grow it organically. There's been a pent-up demand for the brand but instead of doubling it each year and then seeing volume drop,...