Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) is a streetwear label founded by Pharrell Williams and Nigo in 2003. Its sublabels include Ice Cream, Bee Line, and Billionaire Girls Club.

History

In 2003, singer Pharrell Williams and his manager Rob Walker partnered with fashion designer and A Bathing Ape creator Nigo, and Japanese graphic designer, Sk8thing to create Billionaire Boys Club. The brand is credited with helping popularize streetwear's visibility in high fashion. BBC debuted in Williams' 2003 "

Frontin' "Frontin" is the debut single by American musician Pharrell Williams featuring fellow American musician Jay-Z. It was written by the artists alongside Chad Hugo, who produced it with Williams as The Neptunes. At the time of its release, William ...

" music video. In 2004, Ice Cream, originally a subsidiary of Billionaire Boys Club, unveiled its

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-centric footwear line, licensed by

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

. Ice Cream graphics feature all-over print motifs of beepers, dollar signs and diamonds. A year later, Billionaire Boys Club branched out from its online origin, setting up a store in Tokyo, Japan and later expanding to New York and London. In August 2011 rapper Jay-Z, a frequent collaborator of Williams, partnered with the Billionaire Boys Club line. Later the rapper, through a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with

Iconix ICONIX is a software development methodology which predates both the Rational Unified Process (RUP), Extreme Programming (XP) and Agile software development. Like RUP, the ICONIX process is UML Use Case driven but more lightweight than RUP. ICONI ...

, invested in the brand. The following year BBC recorded high $25 million to $30 million in volume, up from $12 million. Williams reacquired Iconix's stake in the business in 2017. In 2012, BBC launched Bee Line, its sister brand for the female consumer.

Locations

Billionaire Boys Club has a US

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

SoHo, New York City SoHo, sometimes written Soho (South of Houston Street), is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and has also been known for its variet ...

, a European flagship store in

Soho, London Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

, and a store in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. Several stores that retail Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream clothing exist across North America,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Billionaire Boys Club (Clothing Retailer) Clothing retailers of Japan Clothing retailers of the United States Hip hop fashion Clothing brands of Japan Clothing brands of the United States Clothing companies based in New York City Retail companies based in Tokyo Clothing companies established in 2005 Retail companies established in 2005 2005 establishments in New York City 2005 establishments in Japan Pharrell Williams Jay-Z 2000s fashion

History

Locations

See also

References

External links