American entrepreneur Daymond Garfield John was born on February 23rd, 1969 in Brooklyn. He is the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU, as well as an investor and television personality.
On the ABC reality television program Shark Tank, John plays an investor. John founded The Shark Group, which is based in New York City.
He spent seven years attending Catholic school. He started working at age 10 when his parents divorced, and one of his first jobs involved handing out flyers. He took part in a program in high school that allowed him to work a full-time job and go to school on alternate weeks, which he attributes to instilling an entrepreneurial attitude.
John started his fashion career (FUBU) at his mother’s house in Hollis, Queens. His mother taught him to sew and also allowed him meanwhile,he originally had the idea for a clothing line for young men.
John’s mother impressed by the turnout of event took out a $100,000 mortgage on their home to fund the business. Along with Brown, John enlisted the help of lifelong friends J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin to launch the company. He then started sewing the FUBU emblem onto hockey jerseys, sweatshirts, and T-shirts. For two years, they lent roughly 10 of the hockey jerseys to rappers for their music videos, and they received commercial placements in about 30 of the videos.
The $300,000 in orders and the invitation to represent Macy’s (M) at the MAGIC trade exhibition in Las Vegas came to John at some point between 1992 and 1994. They had to take out a second mortgage on his mother’s house in order to carry out the directives.
His mother spent the last of their money to purchase an advertisement in the New York Times after being denied a loan by 27 institutions. Through the advertisement, FUBU and Samsung Textiles were able to work together to fulfill orders.
In terms of global sales, FUBU has made nearly $6 billion.
The National Museum of African-American History and Culture, operated by the Smithsonian, features FUBU.
Publications.
Awards and Recognisions
John has written five books, including “Powershift,” “Display of Power,” “The Brand Within,” and “The Power of Broke.”
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times both named John as one of their top writers.
Numerous honors have been bestowed upon John, including the Brandweek Marketer of the Year, the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (which he won twice), the Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, the Essence Award, the Crain’s New York Business Forty Under Forty Award, the Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Brandeis University International Business School’s Asper Award for Excellence in Global Entrepreneurship, and the Details 50 Most Influential People Award (which he won twice).
John was named an ambassador by President Obama in 2015 to support businesses who are underserved.
