Cassius Smith’s career as a
fashion designer began when he moved from St. Paul, Minnesota to Newark, New
Jersey in the summer of 1998. Bring with him only $8O.OO and a sketchbook;
Smith left his hometown to pursue his dream. In September of 1998 Smith spotted
founder, president and CEO of FUBU Daymond John in the lobby of the Empire
State Building. Impressed by his hand drawn illustrations, Mr. John offered
Smith an internship with his then 3OO million a year company. After only four
months as an intern, Smith was promoted to Design Assistant. Then, just two
months later he became a Designer. After a year at FUBU, Smith felt it was time
to move on. In 2OOO, he accepted a designer position at Sean John where he was
in part responsible for wovens and denim. Soon after being hired, Sean Combs
himself requested that Smith design all sportswear related products.
In 2OO4, Smith was given his own division to head up, Bad Boy Clothing. The brand
suffered due to lack of support from the parent company, yet Sean Combs still
impressed with his work on Bad Boy offered Smith a position as Creative
Director of Sean John. With offers from Nike, Enyce and Phat Farm on the table,
Smith felt it was time to, “Do my own thing”. In August of 2OO5, he started the
DL Design Corp. whose client list included: Mitchell & Ness, Brooklyn Mint,
GIII, Dallas Mavericks New Era, Phillip Van Huesen, Timberland, Rocawear, Steve
Madden, Champion and FL-2O. In 2OO9 Smith partnered with his then lawyer and a
local NYC business man to launch Major Coin, a menswear brand consisting of
knit’s, woven’s, denim, outerwear and suiting’s. Smith debuted the collection
at S.L.A.T.E in Las Vegas in August of 2OO9. The collection was well received
generating over $9O,OOO in wholesale sales in just 2 ½ days. But due to lack of
funds the company was unable to start production putting Smith’s financial
partner in breach of contract giving Smith sole ownership of the name Major
Coin as they parted ways. Smith moved on to work with such brands as Steve Madden,
Rocawear and Andrew Marc.
In Sept
2O13, Smith started a sportswear collection called "Bread and Games", worn by such stars
as Diddy, Floyd, Mayweather, Trey Songz and Michael K. Williams to name a few. In May 2O13, Smith accepted a position as Creative Director of YMCMB and
RichGang through Universal Music Group’s apparel partner Bravado. Working
directly with Tom Bennett CEO of
Bravado and Byran “Baby” Williams, CEO of Cash Money Records, he created their new collection due to launch in Spring 2014.
