Baby Phat to relaunch under Kimora Lee Simmons Leissner

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Mar 9, 2019

Model and entrepreneur Kimora Lee Simmons Leissner has bought back her Baby Phat brand, and has announced that the streetwear label will be making a comeback. 

In a taped interview with Bloomberg, Leissner took International Women's Day as an opportunity to announce that about 20 years after the label's birth, it will relaunch sometime this year. To give her a closer insight into the Millennial demographic, Leissner said she will be joined at the helm of the new Baby Phat by her daughters, Ming Lee Simmons and Aoki Lee Simmons. 

"Business is great, I always have that core group and the core supporter," the former Chanel model said. "Many people have come along with me on the journey, whether they are my kids age [...] or whether they're my age, which is a little bit older, but I think there's no better time." 

A sub-label of Phat Fashions, the property of Leissner's ex-husband Russell Simmons, Leissner became the brand's president and creative director in 2000. Baby Phat would become one of Simmons' most profitable companies in 2001, and was bought by Kellwood Apparel in 2004. For a number of years after the acquisition, Leissner continued to be a part of the label until her departure in 2010.

Throughout the early 2000s, the Baby Phat brand was famous for serving up much sought-after streetwear looks, full of tight-fitted dark wash denim, fur-trimmed puffer coats, rhinestones and the brand's slinky cat logo.