Beautiful and Black-Owned
For this week’s blog post, I wanted to put the focus on two black-owned fashion brands that are ethically and sustainably made in Africa (but still available to you online, obviously!). When researching different brands, their identities and their founders, I kept coming across an interesting point when discussing luxury fashion from Africa. While some designers and local brands source their fabrics cheaply from China, many support local production and materials, as well as repurposing the tons and tons of secondhand fashion that arrive each and every day (Wicker, 2020). As stated by Alden Wicker (2020), “much of fashion made in Africa is inherently sustainable and slow because it is made to order by skilled tailors and seamstresses of locally produced or upcycled materials” (para. 8). These designers don’t necessarily have access to large factories that can quickly and cheaply mass produce their fashion items; in a way, out of necessity, fashion made in Africa is ahead of other nations in producing ethically.
Similar to high-fashion concept stores like Dover Street Market, The Folklore, founded by Amira Rasool, is a multi-brand online concept store and wholesale showroom based out of New York City. It sells and represents “styles from Africa and the diaspora’s top luxury and emerging fashion brands...most of the fashion, accessories, and homewares available [are] handmade by local artisans based in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Code D’Ivoire” (para. 18). Rasool explains that exclusivity and sustainability are a key factor when curating The Folkore. Each season, only a limited number of each luxury item are in stock. The reason for which The Folklore is based out of New York City is due to Rasool’s knowledge of The Folkore’s luxury consumer; she states, “waiting a week for it to be produced and shipped is not something people are willing to do, especially when they are paying a luxury price” (Wicker, 2020, para. 9). While not all 30 brands represented by The Folkore are black-owned, its designers represent some of the most cutting-edge and unique fashion that Africa has to offer.
Studio One Eighty Nine was co-founded by Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah. It is an “artisan produced fashion lifestyle brand and social enterprise” (“Who we are,” 2020, para. 1). Just recently, Studio One Eighty Nine won the CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability. As stated in its “Who we are” (2020) description, “Studio 189 works with artisanal communities that specialize in various traditional craftsmanship techniques including natural plant based dye indigo, hand-batik, kente weaving and more” (para. 1). It currently operates stores in New York and Accra (Ghana), as well as its e-commerce site. What I find truly inspiring is that Studio 189 focuses on empowerment – it creates jobs and facilitates education and skills training with partners such as the United Nations ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative and the NYU Stern School of Business.
Fill up your online shopping cart with two brands that are doing it right!
Bye for now,
McGee