"Aint What You Want BABY, its what you need BABY" WU WEAR back AGain"

Question in the Form of an Answer: Oli “Power” Grant of Wu-Tang Clan

Last Friday at the EMP Pop Conference, Tal Rosenberg and I presented a paper on the economics of Wu-Tang. In the course of our research, I interviewed Power, the financial mastermind of the Wu-Tang. Therein, I learned about Wu-Wear’s re-launch, the history behind “Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance,” and the unfulfilled plans for Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s line of “Dirty Drawers.” Read this shorty and you ain’t even have to go to business school.

So you’re currently at the Magic Show in Vegas to promote the Wu-Brand and relaunch of Wu Wear?
Yup, Wu Brand. Wu Brand is in the building for Magic, it’s our first foray coming back after a few years off. We haven’t been on the set for a while now, but we’re doing some big shows this year. There’s another huge one in August.

What exactly is Wu-Brand?

Wu-Brand is the new title of the line—it could be a title or subtitle as compared to Wu-Wear. It’s strange comparing then to now. When I first started Wu-Wear, there weren’t many examples preceding us. There weren’t rules written as law in the business. Now coming back with so much time having passed, we’re trying to bring the Wu-Tang brand back around. The Wu-Brand is what we’re going to start with, it’s for the people who are tastemakers. It’s going to be more elite nice stuff and not as ready and available. Then we’ll eventually be bringing back Wu-Wear.

Has it been difficult trying to re-launch a once thriving brand after so much time away?

We’ve been implementing a lot of things. We’re bringing the Wu Brand stuff back on a boutique level. The customers are different today. Look at that store that came to America –H&M. People today will wear stuff from there and mix it with the Gap. They mix and match fashions. You can someone wearing H&M with a Chanel bag or a Gucci hat and Gucci sneakers. It’s the same way with Wu-Brand. If they can afford it, we have the Wu Brand, which is high end. On the less expensive end, will be Wu Wear.

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