Companies take to the rap culture

BY TANIA PADGETT | STAFF WRITER

October 12, 2004

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world's largest luxury goods company, is turning to hip-hop to help boost its sales.

Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs recently joined forces with music producer and hip-hop artist Pharrell Williams to create a line of funky eyewear.

Terms of the deal were not available. But such partnerships between upscale companies and hip-hop artists are becoming increasingly common.

The glasses - large-framed and studded with fake diamonds - debuted this past weekend at Louis Vuitton's spring summer 2005 collection along with Jacobs' own monogrammed jeans and cherry prints-decorated handbags by pop artist Takashi Murakami.

"We collaborate with artists all the time," said a spokeswoman at the company's headquarters overseas. "Marc likes Pharrell's music and Pharrell likes Marc's work as a designer."

The move is not surprising. More large upscale companies are trying to tap into the $10 billion hip-hop market and are doing so by forming alliances with today's hip-hop artists.

Hip-hop, initially dismissed by many as a ghetto youth fad, has become America's pop culture. Corporate America began to take an interest in hip-hop culture after watching sales rise on products that rappers mentioned in their songs.

One of the first examples of this is Run DMC who snared a shoe endorsement by Adidas in the 1980s after rapping about the sneakers in "My Adidas."

And two years ago, the cognac Courvoisier saw a boost in sales after P. Diddy and Busta Rhymes rapped about the liquor in their song "Pass the Courvoisier." Now Allied Domecq, which puts out Courvoisier, uses Fonzworth Bentley, a one-time assistant to Combs, to hawk its liquor.

Russell Simmons sold his clothing subsidiary Phat Fashion to apparel giant Kellwood earlier this year.

"I see more luxury companies embracing hip-hop," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Consulting group in Upper Montclair, N.J. "Some of these companies are dealing with flagging clothing and product lines. Hip-hop brings innovation, which is crucial in the fashion business."

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