Russell Simmons recently announced that his Argyle Culture fashion line will soon be available in Macy's across the globe. This is not the first time Simmons has been down this path, as he garnered much success with the launch of Phat Farm in the '90s. Simmons pioneered the way for urban designers in department stores, and with this collection, he's looking to fill that void in the market once again.

XXL recently chopped it up with the hip-hop mogul about his new clothing line. Simmons speaks on the lack of black designers currently in department stores and why he believes that companies like Phat Farm and FUBU no longer exist, Russell had some eye-opening things to say. Check it out.-Miranda Johnson

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XXL: Why did you decided to go back into clothing?
Russell Simmons: I’m doing it because there’s a big hole in the market, and when I did Phat Farm, I found Jay Z, I found Nelly and I supported building a space where African-American designers have a cool kind of sensibility in department stores. There was billions of dollars made, then the urban graduate never got serviced. Everybody grew up and bought Ralph. I love Ralph but his pant fit like hip-hop baggy jeans from the old days. If you go to a historically black university and you look at a young urban professional, they wear slim jeans, a wool vest and a bowtie. They have a certain swagger. You’ve got to go to a lot of different places to get that swagger. So to build a cohesive collection that speaks the language of the urban graduate—there’s a hole in the market. I feel comfortable because even though I’m 100, I [will still] feel like a young professional.

When I dress, right now, I’m wearing drop crotch sweat pants on and an argyle sweater and I’m wearing white on white shell toes. This is my shit.

The urban graduate, where are they represented in department stores? Who designs for them? So Macy’s recognizes that there’s a hole in the market and they’ve been gracious enough to give me a little space. How many other black designers do you know in department stores?

None. Can't think of one.
And I have to accept this [challenge]  so more people will go into the space. Kimora gave $1 million to the Rush Foundation and we’re going to use it to educate and promote young designers of color in underserved communities. But that doesn't make them the entrepreneur that's going to have equity in those companies that they work for. So we need to encourage more entrepreneurs to go into these department stores and to design in this space because there's a hole. There's a lot of money there. I think that the purpose is not social or political, although, there are some social and political ramifications to not having any people of color. But it's not about that, it's about the money. Terry Lundgren, the CEO of Macy's, recognizes that there's a hole in the market and he's allowing us to serve it by bringing us into his store. We're grateful for it but we need a lot more people like me going to work every day. I'm sitting on seventh Avenue and I'm pretty much alone. I'm not saying I'm alone and I am comfortable in every environment but damn there's no people like us doing what we're doing. I think that it has everything to do with  sensibility more than color. There's a hole, there's a whitespace that's big enough to drive a truck through that I'm designing into. It kind of fits me, everything that I wear is in my collection.

You ever see a black man in a commercial that didn't have an argyle sweater on?

[Laughs]
[Laughs] You watch a commercial and I don't give a shit if he's married to a white girl and the kids are eating cheerios, he's got on an argyle sweater. With that reality, you can go to J Crew —they're really inspiring to me, the designer at J Crew is really doing his thing. This designer is doing a fantastic job but he doesn't have an argyle sweater in the store. He doesn't really speak my language but I like his cut. It fits well. I shouldn't have to go to Se7en Jeans then Ralph [Lauren] for a sweater. I shouldn't have to do all that. There should be a cohesive collection and Argyle Culture I hope [will be that]. It's a little hipster, it's a little bit alternative, a little bit purple. Where else am I going to get my purple argyle sweater. So That's what we do.

It's great that you're doing this. It certainly seems that in the past few years, the urban market has stepped outside of the urban market for clothing.
They have nothing. How do you think we got to be where we are? We liked Tommy [Hilfiger] but we didn't like all of his shit, we liked some of his shit. So we picked and chose the inspirations then we created collections. We have not been able to do that, partly because there's no independent store to ship to and we have to depend on department stores as an urban graduate. Now they're allowing us to ship into the market, it's good for them. We have to prove it to them I guess but it's good for them. It saves them customers that otherwise can't go into their store. So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to build a space and also we're absolutely building this space so other people can come behind us. We're not doing this to be alone. We're doing this so that we can have a bunch of designers of color in these stores doing creative things.

Why do you think the urban market stopped wearing Phat Farm, Fubu, Sean John and etc.?
Russell Simmons: Because a young man's company goes away. If you're Diggy, you can't come downstairs and look at Rev Run to see what he's wearing. you can't do that. Young man's companies have a limited life span where a man's company can be reaffirmed, rebuilt and can evolve. Young man's companies can't evolve, they die. Ten-12 years, you're lucky. That's all you can do. When your momma has a Baby Phat tattoo on her wrinkled arm, you're not putting on any Baby Phat clothes.

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