The 20 Worst Celebrity Clothing Line Fails

Image via Complex Original

At the top of the month, Sean John shocked the fashion community with the announcement that they're shuttering their NYC flagship store. Chills were felt throughout the celeb style industry. After all, the massive success of Diddy’s line (there were CFDA nods, people!) has been the boilerplate that every famous face with a passion for fashion—from Busta Rhymes to Andre 3000 to that one husky avuncular N'Sync dude—has tried to emulate. Still, it’s not just rappers that got the “FAIL!” rubber stamp on their sketchcheckbooks. Click through for Complex's guide to The 20 Worst Celebrity Clothing Line Fails...

20. Celebrity: Master P

Clothing line: No Limit Clothing

Launch date: 1992

Fail date: 2003

Reasons for the fail: In the late ‘90s, No Limit Clothing was actually a smashing success. But when No Limit filed for bankruptcy and Master P’s empire crumpled, only P and Romeo survived. These days, however, you can find the Percy Miller collection at your local Wal-Mart. Christmas is coming!

19. Celebrity: Fat Joe

Clothing line: FJ560

Launch date: 1997

Fail date: 1998

Reasons for the fail: Gotta give it to Joe—FJ560 preceded both Sean John and Rocawear, and he launched the line (and a Bronx boutique of the same name) specifically to enlist young minority designers. But as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The largely velour offerings were met with a tepid reception and both were quickly shuttered. That said, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he decides to start selling off his insane sneaker collection someday soon.

18. Celebrity: DMX

Clothing lines: DMX Authentic, Earl Simmons Signature Collection

Launch date: 2006

Fail date: 2007

Reasons for the fail: Hmmm, maybe because its launch came about 7 years too late? DMX was at the height of his fame in the late ‘90s; by 2006 Dark Man X was better known for parole violations than music. Year of the Dog... Again? Not so much.

17. Celebrity: The Game

Clothing line: The Frank Pace Collection

Launch date: 2006

Fail date: 2007

Reasons for the fail: Created as part of The Game’s Black Wall Street line, The Frank Pace Collection was meant to be the “upscale urban” offering. Except, well, we already have Sean John for that, don’t we? Also, well, look at it, won't you?

16. Celebrity: Bishop Magic Don Juan

Clothing line: The Bishop

Launch date: 2002

Fail date: 2003

Reasons for the fail: Exactly what was sold under The Bishop line is a bit unclear—jewel-encrusted pimp goblets and extra-coordinated 6-piece suits are likely. The Bishop recently made a return to fashion, however, and was named CEO of the Los Angeles-based Serious Pimp accessories line, where Snoop serves as president. Their first collaboration is with The Situation. Yep, seriously. The year 2012 cannot come fast enough. World FAIL.

15. Celebrity: Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC

Clothing line: FuMan Skeeto

Launch date: 1999

Fail date: 2002

Reasons for the fail: Yep, it was really called FuMan Skeeto. Fu. Man. Skeeto. Why? WHO THE HELL KNOWS/CARES? Sorry, but with a name like that, this was destined for failure. Especially if it was a line of tie-dyed shirts and studded denim jackets designed by a boy bander with Ras Trent dreads. It must burn Kirkpatrick that Justin Timberlake not only has an incredibly successful post-*NSYNC music career but that his William Rast clothing line is both popular and profitable. He would SO phone JT up right now and scream on him if only he'd return his calls. :(

14. Celebrity: OutKast

Clothing line: OutKast Clothing

Launch date: 2002

Fail date: 2004

Reasons for the fail: Andre was quoted in a 2003 magazine article saying he’d never wear any of the line’s designs. Nothing slams the casket closed on a celebrity line faster than the actual celeb refusing to wear the clothes! As we now know, 3000 would try again... with similar results. RIP flying O’s.

13. Celebrity: Jon Gosselin

Clothing line: Gosselin Gear

Launch date: 2009

Fail date: 2009

Reasons for the fail: Um, because it’s Jon Gosselin? Who in their right mind would buy kids clothes from this guy?! If that weren’t bad enough, Gosselin Gear was a partnership with Christian Audigier, the founder of Ed Hardy. So, bedazzled flaming dragon jeans for the wee ones repped by a reality TV dad? Epic fail.

12. Celebrity: Boris Kodjoe

Clothing line: Ziami

Launch date: 2003

Fail date: 2008

Reasons for the fail: Bet you didn’t even know about this one. Boris and his brother launched Ziami in Germany first, then expanded to the States, offering “premium handcrafted, custom-made fashions” that left at least one customer growling on Yelp about waiting 5 months for a tailormade pair of jeans that turned out to be several sizes too big. Now that Boris’ NBC comeback vehicle “Undercover” has been cancelled, does this mean he’ll try again? Hope not.

11. Celebrity: Busta Rhymes

Clothing line: Bushi Sport

Launch date: 1999

Fail date: 2000

Reasons for the fail: Even in 1999, dudes from Brooklyn didn’t want to wear sleeveless leather shirts or Japanese-warrior style kimonos. Honestly, Busta, WTF?

10. Celebrity: Nelly

Clothing line: Vokal

Launch date: 2001

Fail date: 2004

Reasons for the fail: Very Organized Kids Always Learning just doesn’t have the same ring as All Day I Dream About Sex, does it? While VOKAL claimed to have $20 million in sales from 2002-2003, we can’t remember anyone but Nelly and the St. Lunatics ever rocking it. Can you? Apple Bottoms, however, is selling like hotcakes, so at least this story has a happy ending.

9. Celebrity: Beanie Sigel

Clothing line: State Property

Launch date: 2002

Fail date: 2006

Reasons for the fail: State Property was a huge priority for parent label Rocawear—their first ad campaign was shot in Paris and featured Victoria Beckham, of all people—and it was succesful even after Beanie was jailed on felony weapons charges. But when the feud between Jay and Dame exploded, State Property got stuck with the wack parent and paid the ultimate price. That said, please don't harm us Mr. Sigel.

8. Celebrity: Lil’ Bow Wow

Clothing line: Shago

Launch date: 2003

Fail date: 2006

Reasons for the fail: Velour track suits, anyone? We’ll give him a lil’ credit ‘cause he was 16 at the time, but Lil’ Bow Wow’s line —with collection names like Classic, Knight, and Racing—suffered from the same identity crisis and growing pains that caused him to leave the “Lil’” behind.

7. Celebrity: David Hasselhoff

Clothing line: Malibu Dave

Launch date: 2006

Fail date: 2006

Reasons for the fail: The Hoff was so psyched that fans were rocking his “Don’t Hassel The Hoff” T-shirts, he decided to expand to a full line of surfing attire called Malibu Dave. We think the Hoff was too inebriated to realize people were rocking the shirts in irony. So we hereby declare hipsters to blame for the immediate demise of Malibu Dave. And for cancer. Also, lupus. And bedbugs.

6. Celebrity: Cam'ron

Clothing line: Vivali

Launch date: 2005

Fail date: 2005

Reasons for the fail: While in 2005 Cam famously said, “I’m not doing a sports clothing line. I’m doing a straight up couture line,” and claimed to have spent time in Milan working with seamstresses and patternmakers, the only Vivali (which Cam says means “I’m fly” in Italian) clothes we remember were some T-shirts in the clearance section of T.J. Maxx a few years ago. Makes you kinda miss the pink fur, doesn’t it?

5. Celebrity: LL Cool J

Clothing line: LL Cool J for Sears

Launch date: 2008

Fail date: 2009

Reasons for the fail: The launch of LL’s line for Sears coincided almost exactly with the economy’s swift plummet, and barely six months after his line of glittery hoodies and other back-to-school style sportswear debuted, it was gone, taking it with it a whole slew of ads featuring LL, his wife Simone and their four children. Poor kids.

4. Celebrity: Common

Clothing line: Soji Hats

Launch date: 2007

Fail date: 2009

Reasons for the fail: We’re gonna go with making Jeremy Piven your celebrity spokesmodel. The line was a good idea in theory, since Common has been rocking newsboys forever (remember the tie-dyed knit versions of the Erykah Badu era?), but even partnering with established Italian hatmakers La Coppola Storta couldn’t erase the vision of Ari Gold in an applejack cap. Still makes us shudder.

3. Celebrity: Lil’ Wayne

Clothing line: Foreign Money

Launch date: 2007

Fail date: 2007

Reasons for the fail: It’s hard to believe that anything Wayne does could fail, but, alas, Foreign Money (and its sister line, Double U) barely made it out of the gate. He talked it up non-stop for several months but designs barely materialized. Can’t blame Weezy for trying to expand his portfolio, though—wasn’t baby #6 just born somewhere?

2. Celebrity: Andre 3000

Clothing line: Benjamin Bixby

Launch date: 2008

Fail date: 2009

Reasons for the fail: While Andre’s passion for fashion nearly matches his musical genius, Benjamin Bixby got hit by recession just like the common man. The line started out strong, with a splashy mini shop at a NYC Barney’s and a strong presence in other high-end department stores, but within months sales were tanking, those high price points were slashed and clearance sites sold off the rest of the inventory. Hopefully he’s using all that free time for doing what he does best—acting! JK. Being an astonishing lyrical power!

1. Celebrity: The Douches of Reality TV (TIE)

Clothing line: Brody Jenner's Archangel Accessories, K-Fed's Otzi Kids Clothing, The Situation’s DILLIGAF.

Launch date: Archangel (2007), Otzi Kids Clothing (2009), DILLIGAF (2010).

Fail date: Any day now. Please.

Reasons for the fail: In general, the men of reality TV are great for some things: teaching ignorant slang, showing you how not to talk to girls, getting into drunken fights... One thing they’re not good at: designing clothes. We’re betting that in the time it took you to click through this post, the bottom line on these enterprises got that much more shaky. At least, that's the hope. You know, for humanity.