Before Fashion Nova changed the game with fly, affordable clothing, there were clothing lines and fashion brands that made sure folks always looked their best — but on a budget. Brands like FUBU, which literally stands for For Us By Us, were specifically designed to give Black folks their own lane in the fashion industry.
And let’s not forget about Apple Bottom! Everybody who was anybody in the early 2000s rocked Nelly‘s famous jeans — and boots with the fur. Over the weekend, the STL rapper announced that the popular brand may be making a comeback. He wrote on Instagram.
It’s bout that time…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t call it a come back..!!!!!
Apparently it’s the season of fly, 2000s fashion to return. Just last year, FUBU made it’s return to retail stores. Creators of the sportswear brand, Daymond John, Keith Perrin, J. Alexander Martin and Carl Martin, spoke out on how much racism plagues the fashion industry:
“Remember how much flak we got when people thought we were only for black people? But we weren’t. We came out and said, ‘Who’s ever going to respect and value the hip-hop culture?’ Because we heard all these brands didn’t respect rappers or African-Americans. We weren’t going to be prejudiced like we thought other people were. You only see the four of us here, but in our peak we had 400 [employees] and I think we were evenly broken up with Asian, African-American, Middle Eastern, Jewish.”
Are you rocking Apple Bottom Jeans in 2020? In honor of the brand’s return, check out these fly brands that the hood loves.