Sean Combs buys back Sean John fashion label for $7.5M

Sean “Diddy” Combs plans on celebrating Christmas in style. Sean John style, that is. After five years, the performer and entrepreneur has bought back the rights to his famous streetwear label, and all for a cool $7.551 million.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Combs put in a bid to buy back the Sean John brand earlier this month with an initial offer of $3.3 million, and though four other investors also came in with bids, after a December 20 auction, Combs came through with the final amount.

“I launched Sean John in 1998 with the goal of building a premium brand that shattered tradition and introduced Hip Hop to high-fashion on a global scale,” Combs said in a statement. “Seeing how streetwear has evolved to rewrite the rules of fashion and impact culture across categories, I'm ready to reclaim ownership of the brand, build a team of visionary designers and global partners to write the next chapter of Sean John's legacy.”

The guy can seemingly afford it, what with his estimated net worth of $900 million, which he’s accumulated through his music, record label, TV production, tequila brand DeLeón, and of course the clothing line, among other pursuits.

When Combs launched Sean John at the end of the '90s, it was an immediate success. By 2000, the brand boasted sales of $200 million and was carried in more than 1,200 stores, not to mention iconic moments like then-girlfriend JLo's VMAs Sean John look from that year.

In 2004, the Council of Fashion Designers of America named Combs the top menswear designer of the year, awarding him the honour over established designers like Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors.

When Combs sold the company in 2016 it was bringing in around $450 million a year, with plans to increase that to a billion-dollar business through international expansion. At the time the performer reportedly retained a 10 per cent interest, while Global Brands Group (GBC) took on a 90 per cent ownership.

Things seemed to be going okay until earlier this year, when Combs filed a lawsuit against the company over the launch of a woman’s collection with the U.K. retailer Missguided Unlimited. According to February paperwork, Combs was seeking $25 million for “false endorsement, misappropriation of likeness and violating his publicity rights.”

He followed up that suit with one from his non-profit, Citizen Change, over the use of the phrase “Vote or Die,” which is a trademark the organization owns.    

GBC USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the summer and put its assets up for sale, including Sean Jean. According to the article, they contacted more than 40 potential purchasers, but as we now know, Combs won out in the end.

Now that Sean’s got his namesake fashion label back, we can’t wait to see how he updates the iconic tracksuits for a new generation of streetwear fans.

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