Baby Phat Urban Streetwear Line to Be Relaunched This Summer

(Bloomberg) -- Baby Phat is back -- almost.

The urban streetwear clothing and shoes brand created 20 years ago by Kimora Lee Simmons Leissner and recognized by its cat logo, is planning a relaunch this summer. The women’s line will focus on exposing it to millennials and Gen X customers that might not have been old enough to remember the original, according to a statement Friday.

Over the past few decades, the streetwear trend has entered mainstream fashion. Newer brands like Supreme and A Bathing Ape have garnered a loyal following among young shoppers willing to wait hours in line for the latest T-shirt.

Baby Phat’s original parent, Phat Fashion, was founded by her former husband and music mogul Russell Simmons more than 25 years ago. The company was acquired in 2004 by Kellwood Co. for $140 million. Simmons Leissner, who served as Baby Phat’s creative director from 2000 to 2010, told Bloomberg TV in an interview that she recently bought the company back, without disclosing terms or the seller. At the height of its popularity, it held solo fashion shows and had a focus on customers of color. Now, her two daughters, who are 16 and 19, will help her run the label.

The company will be owned by women and designed for women, the entrepreneur, designer and former model said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

“It’s very important that you have women on both sides -- women as the end user, women as the creator,” she said. “We need to take more of that responsibility and own it.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jordyn Holman in New York at jholman19@bloomberg.net;Vonnie Quinn in New York at vquinn@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson, Jonathan Roeder

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