The growing demand for urban and hip hop clothing lines have lead many to start their own lines of branded hip hop clothing lines. Some are small, and some are big. Some of the biggest names in hip hop fashion clothing lines today weren’t only started by professional fashion designers alone.

Popular branded hip hop and urban clothing lines today, such as sean john clothing, house of dereon, dereon, apple bottoms, rocawear, are those brands of whom are started by some of the most famous entertainers and hip hop artists today.

Here are a short list of those popular brands of clothing lines that were founded by different celebrities and hip hop executives.

Sean John Clothing

First of the list is sean john clothing. Coming from the man they once called as the “Shiny Suit Man”, Sean John Combs has showed his talents not only on hip hop music, but also with

Sean John Clothing is an urban clothing line founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs in 1998 that won the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000, and one in 2004.

The popularity of sean john clothing was mainly because of its endorsers. Apart from Sean John Combs, people that represents the brand also includes other rappers such as T.I., Fabolous, The Game, Daddy Yankee, basketball superstars Dwayne Wade and Tristan Sooklal, and models Tyson Beckford and Kevin Navayne.

Other than urban clothing lines, Sean John Combs also launched a men’s perfume under the Sean John brand called “I Am King” from which was dedicated to all famous and well celebrated black people of the US such as Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King.

Apple Bottoms Jeans

One of the most popular urban and hip hop clothing lines for women is a clothing line specifically made for plus sized women. Apple Bottoms jeans is a clothing line founded by one of the most highly successful American rapper of the 20th century, Nelly.

In his vision, “a woman should not try to fit the clothes; the clothes should fit the woman!” From this vision, Nelly, alongside Yomi Martin & Ian Kelly, founded the apple bottoms jeans.

The brand, which when launched, was exclusively a denim label, and has since gone through a major line-expansion. Currently the Apple Bottoms label includes: apparel, footwear, handbags, eyewear RX, intimates, sunglasses, accessories, jewelry, cold weather, and girl’s apparel.

ICER Brands, LLC in collaboration with Nelly, holds the exclusive licensing rights to the product development and marketing of Apple Bottoms. Nelly works very closely with the design team to oversee all productions, and ensure that they are consistent with his vision.

G-Unit

G-Unit is also one of those hip hop clothing lines founded by a hip hop artist popularly known as 50 Cent.

Other than the music industry, 50 Cent has also established himself in a variety of fields. In November 2003, he signed a five year deal with Reebok to distribute a “G-Unit Sneakers” line as part of his G-Unit Clothing Company.

The “G-Unit Clothing Company” was established in 2003, when 50 Cent teamed up with Marc Ecko, to create a line of clothing and accessories inspired by 50 Cent and fellow members of G-Unit.

House of Dereon

Another urban and hip hop clothing line for women is the house of dereon. House of Dereon is a prêt-à-porter or ready-to-wear fashion line introduced by singer Beyonce Knowles and her mother/stylist Tina Knowles.

House of Dereon was announced to the media in September 2004, by Tina and Beyoncé Knowles. House of Dereon tagline is “Couture.Kick.Soul” which represents the three generation of women. Agnez Dereon is the “soul,” Tina Knowles is the “couture,” and Beyonce is the “kick.”

Expanding the brand, Beyonce and her sister Solange Knowles launched the junior line dereon that is geared towards younger consumers and is more reasonably priced. Dereon was introduced in 2006.

Rocawear

Rocawear is also among of the most popular brands of urban clothing lines that gained annual sales of $700 Million because of its huge demand.

Rocawear is an urban clothing label created in 1995 by Jay-Z and Damon Dash. Apart from being a successful hip hop artist, Jay-Z also established himself as an entrepreneur like his fellow hip-hop-moguls, and friends, Russell Simmons, Dr. Dre and Sean “Diddy” Combs, who also have business holdings such as record companies and clothing lines.

Apart from having been President and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, Jay-Z is also one of the owners and founders of the Roc-A-Fella Empire, which includes Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc-La-Familia, Roc-A-Fella Films and rocawear.

Its founders expanded rocawear through licensing pacts to develop lines for children, juniors, socks and sandals, leather suede and fur outerwear, handbags and belts, lounge wear and big & tall, headwear, jewelry, and sunglasses; as well as co-branded product with Pro-Keds, State Property, and Team Roc.

Baby Phat

When it comes to the most popular urban and hip hop clothing lines today, Baby Phat is one of them. Baby Phat is an urban fashion line of clothing and other items for women and girls designed by Kimora Lee Simmons.

Kimora Lee Simmons is an American model and author. Apart from her latent talents in fashion, Kimora decided to start her own clothing line in which she named as Baby Phat.

It is the corporate “sibling” of the clothing brand Phat Farm created by Russell Simmons, though now, Kimora became of Phat Fashions after her ex-husband Russell Simmons stepped down.

Besides clothing, the brand also includes accessories for phones, jewelry, shoes and clothes. Baby Phat uses a sleek cat as the brand logo.

8732 Clothing

This clothing line is also one of the many brands of clothing lines that was founded by a hip hop artist. 8732 Clothing was founded in 2006 by the multi-platinum Atlanta rap artist Young Jeezy.

Inspired by other artists such as Jay-Z and Sean Diddy Combs, he created his own clothing brand that caters to the new generation of youth that dress in a casual urban street wear style.

Phat Farm

But among all of urban clothing lines founded by celebrities and hip hop executives, Phat Farm is the most popular of all. Phat Farm is a national fashion line created by hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, the founder of the Def Jam record label in 1982.

The fashion line is an upscale mix of sporty urban fashions with the classic Ivy League preppy style. For example, argyle sweaters are paired with baggy jeans and crisp white sneakers.

Phat Farm expanded to include Baby Phat, a brand that encompasses womens-wear, as well as a line of eyeglasses, fragrances and children’s clothing. The name “Phat” comes from an acronym of hip-hop slang, meaning “Pretty, Hot, and/or Tempting.”