The Ledger
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Retailer Asked Daymond John to Remove Founders' Photos For Looking 'Gang'
“A large retailer did ask me to take the picture of myself and my three other partners off the hang tag, cause it said we look like a gang.”
Daymond John: Big-Box Retail Puts More Brands Out of Business Than It Helps
“So by the way, when you go to retail. You do four times the amount of work for half of the reward, right? Because you know, you now have to deal with buyers. You had to become a vendor record. You have to ship it. And by the way, you know, the larger companies…”
Daymond John Calculated McDonald's Paid More Than Dealing Drugs Risk-Adjusted
“I remember doing the math one day about you know, if I were to work in McDonald's, and if I were to sell drugs over the course of five years, where, when I make more money, and it looked like I would make more money at McDonald's. Because if you look at the dr…”
Daymond John: Founders unable to answer 'why me, why now' offer copycat products
“So I always ask founders and say, you know, you can't answer why me? Why now? And why this? Then you have a me too product, but you have to add all the time to your career, be able to say, why me? Why now? And why this?”
Daymond John: Big Retail Chains Track Mom-and-Pop Stores for Trends
“The mom and pop stores are always, they're always much better. The big stores go to the mom and pop stores to look at what is moving.”
Daymond John: Retaining niche origin story will not alienate broader buyers
“I think that jujitsu, first of all, is the natural history. That's the fubu for us by us. And I think it's a little too early to hop off of that because you want to hang on to something. It does not mean it's going to alienate anybody”
Daymond John says Bombas is the most successful Shark Tank product
“Sometimes it's why Bomba Socks is the most successful product in Shark Tank history.”
Daymond John says live selling is the best consumer sales channel
“Live selling platforms are the best by far. It is a huge, huge market right now. And we're right at the beginning of it.”
John: FUBU booked $300,000 in orders without a trade show booth
“So it worked it out, and you know, we would write 300,000 dollars in orders, and that's when I would realize how much capital I really needed.”
Samsung agreed to finance FUBU if it reached $5M sales in 3 years
“And the deal with us was that they would finance the manufacture and manufacturing and distribution of our product, but we had to sell five million dollars worth of clothes in three years to keep the deal.”
FUBU generated $30 million in sales in three months after partnering with Samsung
“But I had known my customers so well because of all those things that I was doing that as we started to put the brand out there, we did about thirty million dollars in three months.”
Daymond John: FUBU restricted big retailers to preserve brand coolness
“We'd have to stop the retailers. We'd have to not allow them to purchase because some of the kids would look at some of these big retailers and say, well, now FUBU's not cool anymore because it's in these big retailers.”
Daymond John: A hot fashion brand typically lasts five to seven years
“It goes through cycles, you know, and a hot brand lasts five or maybe six years. Maybe seven years.”
Daymond John: McDonald's nets more over five years than dealing drugs
“I've always been somewhat analytical, and I remember doing the math one day about you know, if I were to work in McDonald's, and if I were to sell drugs over the course of five years, where, would I make more money, and it looked like I would make more money a…”
FUBU generated $300,000 in orders pitching from a MAGIC hotel room
“It worked it out, and you know, we would write 300,000 dollars in orders, and that's when I would realize how much capital I really needed.”
Daymond John's mother took out a $100,000 home equity loan for FUBU
“So she goes out and she gets a 100,000 dollar loan on our house.”
FUBU generated $30 million in sales within three months of financing
“As we started to put the brand out there, we did about thirty million dollars in three months.”
Daymond John: A hot fashion brand typically lasts five to seven years
“You know, and a hot brand lasts five or maybe six years, maybe seven years.”
Daymond John initially thought Shark Tank sucked and would never succeed
“I went for an audition, and they ended up using the pilot as the first couple of episodes, Shark Tank, and before I know it, the show that I thought would never get anywhere and sucked with these, you know, five business people just talking business all the ti…”
Daymond John requires cost reduction or sales lift to justify investing
“So I'm listening to the story and seeing if it's a play for me. Will I add value? Can I either reduce costs or increase sales by what I'm doing? If not, my money is just as good as anybody else's money.”
Daymond John started CEO Access to turn CEOs into business stars
“And I started a new division called CEO access where I manage CEOs and I try to make them the next sharks.”
Daymond John Was Rejected by 27 Banks for Early FUBU Financing
“So, I went to all the banks I could, and I got turned down by 27 of them.”
Daymond John made and sold out 80 handmade FUBU hats in hours
“So I made 80 of them. It took me probably about three hours. I made 80 of them, and I hit that street corner, and I sold all of them.”
Daymond John: FUBU closed three times between 1989 and 1992
“Through 89 and 92, I closed the business three times because I ran out of money.”
John: FUBU founders racked up $50,000 in credit card debt
“So of course, you know, like many businesses, I leveraged my credit cards you know, up until I think my partners and I, all of us leveraged our credit cards up to about 50,000 dollars with a very high interest rate, which is not the smartest thing to do.”
Daymond John: 27 banks rejected FUBU loan applications
“So I went to all the banks I could, and I got turned down by 27 of them.”
Daymond John's mother took $100,000 home equity loan to fund FUBU
“So she goes out and she gets a 100,000 dollar loan on our house.”
John: FUBU fulfilled $75K in orders before reaching $500 bank balance
“I think we filled about 75,000 dollars worth of those orders until I turned around and I only had 500 dollars left in the bank, and I was about four months late on the mortgage.”
Daymond John: FUBU drastically reduced distribution and logos in 2003
“What we did was we reduced Most of the distribution of it. I mean, we still obviously kept our categories, but we would really narrow down to just a couple of stores just to test the product and see how it's going. Cause we felt that it just needed to cool dow…”
Daymond John Initially Believed Shark Tank Would Fail Because Business Is Boring
“The show that I thought would never get anywhere and sucked with these, you know, five business people just talking business all the time, who wants to see that? Before I know it, you know, we're going into our 10th year.”
Daymond John closed FUBU three times between 1989 and 1992
“And to say that, I also have to say that through 89 and 92, I closed the business three times because I ran out of money.”
FUBU seeded 20 oversized shirts to New York bouncers for visibility
“Right, so what we did was we just found a place that made four X, five X, six X shirts, and we made 20 of those shirts, because We made twain them because we knew that if we gave these guys these shirts, these guys were normally bodyguards.”
FUBU founders racked up $50,000 in high-interest credit card debt
“Like many businesses, I leveraged my credit cards you know, up until I think my partners and I, all of us leveraged our credit cards up to pay about 50,000 dollars with a very high interest rate, which is not the smartest thing to do.”
Daymond John says 27 banks rejected FUBU's early loan applications
“I went to all the banks I could, and I got turned down by 27 of them.”
Samsung required FUBU to sell $5 million in three years
“And the deal with us was that they would finance the manufacture and manufacturing and distribution of our product, but we had to sell five million dollars worth of clothes in three years to keep the deal.”
Jordache's FUBU license generated $100 million in ladies' apparel revenue
“Jordache was our first license and they came aboard and they started doing ladies clothes. So now we're doing a hundred, say, a hundred and fifty million in men's. They're doing a hundred million alone in ladies.”
Daymond John: Shark Tank producers discovered him on Donny Deutsch's show
“The way that I got onto Shark Tank was because they actually saw me on Donnie Deutsch. What was that called? The Big Idea. And they realized that I could take a pitch”
Daymond John studied Red Lobster P&L statements while working as a waiter
“I was having a great time as a waiter but I was also learning from Red Lobster, you know, they would issue these quarterly books on, you know, their P&Ls, basically, and what was working, what wasn't working.”
Daymond John: Girlfriend Rejected Initial $500 Startup Loan for FUBU
“And then one day I asked her to borrow 800 dollars. No, I asked her to borrow 500 dollars for this idea I had called FUBU. And she said no.”
Daymond John's mother blocked him from touring as a Whodini breakdancer
“At one point, I did get an offer to dance for a group named Houdini. Sure, yeah. They were going on tour. I got an offer to breakdance for them, and my mother said, no way in the world are you going on tour.”