'Gotta Be Cool': Marc Ecko's Empire

Sept. 12, 2007— -- One would imagine that the man behind Ecko Unlimited, the billion-dollar urban clothing line favored by hip-hop fans, would be a hip-hop star himself -- a mogul on the order of Rocawear's Jay-Z, Phat Farm's Russell Simmons or Sean Jean's P. Diddy.

But Marc Ecko, born Marc Milecofsky, didn't get his start spitting rhymes or selling dimes. He was a geeky kid who was into art and studied to be a pharmacist at Rutgers.

Ecko is a product not of the Bed-Stuy housing projects or South Central Los Angeles but of the not-so-mean streets of suburban Lakewood, N.J.

"Too fat to break dance, too white to rap," is how Ecko describes his younger self. "I could draw. With drawing and as an artist, I was good at that."

Though he grew up decidedly middle class, Ecko is now supremely wealthy. He even recently purchased a bona fide castle in his home state of New Jersey.

Today the kid who once raked leaves to earn money for a pair of Adidas now sells his own sneakers, as well as jeans, T-shirts, sweatshirts, button-downs, blazers, watches, skirts, dresses, handbags and more. Last year revenues of Ecko Enterprises exceeded $1 billion.

The fact that a 35-year-old, Jewish father of three is also one of hip-hop culture's style mavens may be surprising. But for Ecko, who came of age in the late 1980s after rap had already moved decisively into the mainstream, it makes perfect sense.

"You know, growing up in the '80s in America … in the Northeast was a unique moment in popular culture," he said, "and you are a product of your environment, and quite simply, Lakewood was really kind of ethnically, you know, mixed, where the emerging cultural trend among young people was hip-hop."

Ecko said that when he first started the company with his sister Marcie the brand was considered too white for hip-hop retailers and too black for retailers catering to the white skater crowd. But the pair found a way to appeal to an even broader demographic than just whites or blacks.