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"Nobody really believed that it would work... They thought my cousin was a little crazy for putting money into it. But he took a gamble and it worked out beautifully."

- Duane Grant

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AN UNMISTAKABLE IDENTITY

Duane Grant was eighteen years old when his cousin, the late Oliver “Power” Grant, enlisted him to design hoodies for a nascent Wu-Tang Clan to give away in their Park Hill, Staten Island neighborhood for free. That project developed into Wu Wear, the pioneering apparel brand and retail store that opened the floodgates for hip-hop brand extensions when it launched amidst the Wu’s empire-cementing solo project wave of 1995.

"We were the first hip-hop brand in Macy's on 34th Street. When that happened, people started to open their eyes, because we got the whole first floor [window display] of Macy's flagship store. This was around ’98 or ’99, we had just got the office on Fashion Avenue. They gave us real estate on that whole first floor. All of the window displays were Wu Wear."

- DUANE GRANT

Wu Wear stood as the first artist-run brand hip hop had ever seen, changing the way we interact with artists and their branding forever.

THE RIM - WU WEAR APPAREL- SKATEBOARDS

FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF DUANE GRANT

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