After gaining worldwide fame as the effeminate half of funk rap group Outkast, Rapper Andre 3000 transitioned smoothly from the streets of East Point, Georgia to a 5th Avenue boardroom.
Along the way, Dre alienated his core rap fan base by reinventing himself as a contemporary Bohemian alter ego with an off the wall fashion sense.
After taking a hiatus from recording, Dre sat down with investors and came up with a new clothing line to showcase his quirky side.
In true egocentric form, he called the new line Benjamin Bixby after a character he didn’t bother building up pre-branding for.
“Benjamin Bixby is a character who’s kind of like your uncle,” he said when his line first launched in upper crust stores such as Harrod’s and Barney’s.
Unfortunately for Dre, his target market didn’t shop at Harrods or Barneys, and they weren’t much interested in dressing like their uncles either.
According to Woooha.com, Harrods and Barneys have been forced to slash prices over 50% to move the stagnant Benjamin Bixby merchandise off the shelves:
The problem is no one is buying the clothing line because of the high price point and no brand equity. As a result, the Benjamin Bixby clothing line has had to dramaticly drop prices in order to move inventory and prevent retailers from shipping it all back to Mr. Benjamin.
As of last week, you can now find Benjamin Bixby clothing at Barneys for over 50% off the original price. That $275 sweater vest is now $109. The $1,495 leather jacket is now $639. (LINK)
