Daymond John
| Daymond John | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Daymond Garfield John February 23, 1969 Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Founder, President, and CEO of FUBU |
| Employer | FUBU |
| Known for | CEO & Founder of FUBU |
| Net worth |
 $250 million |
| Website | daymondjohn |
Daymond Garfield John (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, television personality, author and motivational speaker. He is best known as the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank.
He is currently based in New York City.
John grew up in the Queens neighborhood of Hollis. An only child, John was raised by his mother and grandfather. Early jobs included handing out flyers and waiting tables at Red Lobster. He attended Bayside High School. In high school, he participated in a program that allowed him to work a full-time job and attend school on an alternating weekly basis, which he credits with instilling an entrepreneurial spirit. After graduating high school, he started a commuter van service.
When Daymond John first had the idea for a clothing company for young men, his mother taught him how to sew and supported him by allowing her house to be taken over to grow the business.
Wool ski hats with their tops tied off with fishing line were popular, and John noticed them being sold for $20, which he considered overpriced. He went home and sewed around 90 hats with his next-door neighbor. They sold their homemade hats for $10 each in front of the New York Coliseum, and made $800 in a single day. After the hats, they began selling screen-printed t-shirts. To break into the market, they sold on consignment and at large events around the Northeast. To make ends meet, John held a full-time job at Red Lobster, working on the FUBU business in between shifts.
Sensing potential, Daymond and his mother mortgaged their house for $100,000 to generate start-up capital. In addition to Brown, he recruited longtime friends J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin into the business, and began sewing the FUBU logo onto hockey jerseys, sweatshirts, and T-shirts. They loaned about 10 of the hockey jerseys out to rappers for their music videos for 2 years. They were perceived as a large clothing brand, despite being a relatively small company and stores started requesting their brand. In 1993, he convinced LL Cool J, an old neighborhood friend, to wear a FUBU T-shirt for a promotional campaign. Later, while filming a 30-second advertising spot for The Gap, LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat in the commercial and incorporated the line "for us, by us" in his rapping.
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