He couldn’t rap. He couldn’t sing.

So Daymond John built the uniform for the people who could.

With $40, a sewing machine, and a mother who told him to think big, he stitched together a cultural movement that became the $6 billion brand FUBU.

In today's newsletter, I share Daymond's thread-by-thread story along with:

Enjoy this hip-hop hustler's journey from Red Lobster to the Smithsonian…LG

Daymond John grew up as an only child with a mom that always encouraged him to think big. She had a big can opener that was 2 feet long that said “Think big". It spoke to how she taught lessons to Daymond. Growing up, she told Daymond:

“It takes the same energy to think small as it does to think big. You must think big.”

Daymond used to watch his mother put patterns of clothes on the floor. He helped her cut them with scissors and sew them all together. She taught him how to sew so he could make his own clothes if he wanted to.

When his parents divorced and he severed ties with his father at age 10, something solidified in Daymond. "I never spoke to him again. [The split] made me man of the house and reinforced the theory that nobody else is responsible for your destiny but yourself."

THE RUSSELL SIMMONS EFFECT

At 13, Daymond became fascinated with hip hop as it began to emerge in Brooklyn. Hip hop was changing how people dressed on the street, and he was captivated.

He started seeing Russell Simmons all over the place, driving around the neighborhood in these cars, in the papers and magazines, in Europe and Australia. But Russell wasn't selling drugs or hustling. He was slinging music and having a good time, it didn't seem as if he was even working.

When his friend LL Cool J from his neighborhood started becoming known, Queens actually felt like they had a voice getting out in the world. It was a magical time.

RED LOBSTER AND COMMON SENSE

Right after high school, Daymond was working part-time raking leaves, driving a van for a computer service company, and working nights at Red Lobster, always trying to think of that one big idea that would make him a success.

That's when he saw the hat in a hip-hop video. After searching everywhere, he finally found it for $20, but it was made out of cheap material and poorly done. So he used his last $40, bought material, and made them himself using his mother's sewing lessons.

Standing on that 40-degree street corner in Queens selling wool beanies for $10 each, he made $800 that day. Figuring he was onto something, he started making more hats and added jerseys and sweatshirts to the mix.

THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Daymond started putting images and words on T-shirts about current events like the Rodney King Riots or Mike Tyson getting arrested and selling them at events and on street corners.

In Daymond’s’ mind, FUBU tapped into frustration within the African American and hip hop communities by creating something made with them in mind. And in the process, he could tap into this market. 

STALKING LL COOL J

To build the brand he dreamed of, Daymond knew he needed someone to help generate awareness. He had seen how Nike had Michael Jordan, so he turned to his neighborhood friend, LL Cool J.

When Daymond asked LL for help connecting with other artists, LL told him he needed to stalk these people, to show up every single day and push his will on theirs. But LL wouldn't help connect Daymond to them, he had to do that on his own.

So Daymond took that advice literally and decided to stalk LL. He went to his house and set up a tent on his lawn with his friends, then started following him around to all his shows.

Finally, LL said, 'You know what? If I take this shot, I'll probably lose all my other endorsements because no one knows you...but that burning desire in your eye, I believe in you. I'm going to take the shot.'

That's the moment everything changed.

TEN SHIRTS, THIRTY VIDEOS

Daymond and his crew scraped together enough money to produce just 10 high-quality hockey jerseys with the FUBU logo stitched boldly across the front. That was it. No inventory. No safety net.

He leveraged relationships the only way he knew how. He showed up backstage. Asked friends for introductions. Handed shirts directly to artists filming music videos and asked for one thing in return: wear it on camera.

After each shoot, he collected the jerseys, dry cleaned them, and passed them to the next artist. The same 10 shirts rotated from set to set.

For nearly two years, those jerseys appeared in more than 30 music videos. Viewers saw FUBU everywhere. No one realized it was the same shirts over and over, so FUBU was perceived as this huge clothing company.

Then came the breakthrough.

LL Cool J appeared in a national Gap commercial wearing a FUBU hat (this is a crazy story, see Daymond tell it here). A mainstream brand. A national audience. And stitched into the frame was FUBU.

Demand spiked almost immediately.

Ten shirts had created the illusion of scale. One moment made it real.

THE HOTEL ROOM PITCH

Once stores started requesting products, the FUBU crew decided to attend the Magic retail trade show in Las Vegas. The problem was they couldn't get into the trade show and couldn't afford a booth even if they did.

Four of them flew out, stayed in a little hotel room with two beds, and sent out mailers to buyers with pictures of artists wearing FUBU products.

TWENTY-SEVEN BANKS SAID NO

Daymond counted every order on the plane ride home, but now they had to figure out how to pay to manufacture these items. He knew that if they couldn't fulfill the orders, stores would never do business with him again.

When he got back to New York, he figured he could go to a bank and get a loan to help him make the product. He visited 27 banks and they all turned him down.

With no other options, he sat down with his mother and made the hardest decision yet. They took out a second mortgage on their home at 15 percent interest.

They secured $100,000 and bet the house on FUBU.

Literally.

They stripped the two-story home of its furniture and turned it into a factory. The living room filled with eight sewing machines. The dining room became a cutting station stacked with fabric. Bedrooms turned into offices and shipping rooms. Raw materials crowded the basement.

They slept wherever there was space.

The house stopped being a home. It became the company.

THE TWO YEAR GRIND

Daymond and his crew lived like this for two years as orders came in and the brand's popularity grew. But they depleted the capital quickly, paying and waiting 120 days for raw goods, then waiting another 120 days for payment from stores.

During this entire time, Daymond was still working at Red Lobster. His buddies were coming back as college graduates and he was serving them biscuits and shrimp, which was embarrassing.

He would wake up at 7 AM, sew hats, answer orders, package and ship them. Then head to Red Lobster at 4, work until midnight, come back home, make more hats, and tally orders until 1 or 2 AM. Then start it all over again.

He did this for two years straight. It was incredibly tough but his passion kept him going.

THE FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR AD

Not having anywhere else to turn, Daymond used their last $500 and took out an ad in the New York Times that said:

Samsung America's textile division saw the ad and gave them a call.

They ended up doing a distribution deal that came with the financing, back office support, and industry knowledge. FUBU immediately moved production out of the house, shifted overseas and started producing goods much faster.

The Samsung deal changed everything and Daymond finally got to quit his job at Red Lobster.

FROM QUEENS TO THE SMITHSONIAN

To date, FUBU has sold over $6 billion in products worldwide and has been sold in more than 5,000 retail stores worldwide. FUBU pieces are now displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

Daymond John is known as one of the top branding experts in fashion and has authored five New York Times bestselling books and founded The Shark Group, a brand management and consulting firm. His net worth is estimated at $350 million.

Daymond John’s rise with FUBU shows that strong storytelling starts with belief, focus, and proof in the real world. His story works because it stayed personal, served a clear niche, and spread through people who felt ownership in it. These three lessons show how founders can apply the same principles to their own story creation:

Before FUBU ever became a global brand, it felt massive. The label appeared in 30+ major hip hop music videos in roughly two years, using fewer than a dozen sample jerseys. One Gap commercial featuring LL Cool J wearing a FUBU hat triggered an immediate spike in retail demand. That was not media spend. That was story, identity, and cultural proof working together.

In this video, “Daymond John on Starting His First Business | My Life In Chapters by Audible,” Daymond breaks his career into chapters shaped by defining moments. He shares dreaming big, hitting reality, running out of money, changing direction, and failing repeatedly before finding traction. While framed as an Audible promo, the real value is how naturally he uses narrative to explain setbacks and belief. It shows how story helps leaders make sense of experience and pass along lessons earned the hard way. Watch here:

Daymond John on Starting His First Business | My Life In Chapters
https://youtu.be/K0ccvy_sgaQ?si=t1-l4-okw-f0dtBo

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