This post is about black-owned fashion brands, from clothes to handbags and accessories, that you should have on your radar.
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One thing about the BIPOC community is we know how to SLAY when it comes to dressing for any and every possible occasion.
Let’s face it: Black culture has been the blueprint and the influence of many fashion trends and styles since the beginning of time, from big and bold hoop earrings to long and dazzling acrylic nails.
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Therefore, I’m so pumped to share with you this round-up of some of my favorite contemporary black-owned fashion brands whose collections all serve in their one-of-a-kind silhouettes, vibrant colors, and each designer’s expressions of fashion and creativity in connection with various BIPOC matters.
Many of these highlighted black-owned brands have been seen on popular public figures like Rihanna, Beyonce, and Issa Rae, and next up, you!
Here are the 15 hot black-owned fashion brands that should be on your radar the next time you’re looking for a new wardrobe addition.
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Savage x Fenty
Savage x Fenty is a lingerie and loungewear brand founded in 2018 by the one and only singer and songwriter Rihanna.
Rihanna created the idea for Savage x Fenty to diversify sizing and representation within the lingerie and sleepwear industry. This, along with the brand being owned by Mother Ri-Ri herself, made the sleepwear brand so famous over the years since its launch.
First opening up Savage x Fenty’s first pop-up shop in 2018, and in 2022, moving to brick-and-mortar stores, Savage x Fenty has become the leading black-owned lingerie and loungewear brand. Offering pieces from buttery soft maternity bras to the sexiest of undergarments.
Telfar
Telfar is a unisex accessories and shoe brand that was founded in 2005 by queer Liberian-American designer Telfar Clemens from Queens, New York.
Telfar’s shopper bags became the brand’s most popular and most wanted staple fashion piece that everyone desired to get their hands on during the pandemic in 2021 because of the brand’s massive boom in success.
What makes this black-owned fashion brand so unique to its consumers is its exclusivity. Customers can only purchase one bag, color, size, and day, so choose wisely!
I’ll say I’d snag them all; the bags are the perfect addition for any formal and informal outfit occasions.
Off-White
Off-White is a black-owned Italian luxury brand formerly known as “Pyrex Vision”, incorporated in 2012 by the late American fashion designer Virgil Abloh.
Abloh’s collections are most known for its urban and edgy takes on streetwear fashion and draws inspiration heavily from sportswear styles.
They offer essential everyday pieces for consumers, such as sweatshirts, t-shirts, and tracksuits that make a statement as soon as you enter the room.
Off-White has shown its various collections at Paris Fashion Week and has collaborated with many prominent brands today, like Nike, Jimmy Choo, Moncler, Dr.Martens, and Champion, just to name a few.
Nappy-Head Club
Nappy-Head Club is a black-owned minimal streetwear and urban-style fashion brand that you should add to your wardrobe. It was created by two sisters, Rachel Topping and Rikki-Richelle.
The sisters’ brand’s mission is that all consumers shop with purpose.
Nappy-Head Club’s designs scream black pride through all of its pieces. It is a brand specifically made for anyone who has ever felt ashamed, excluded, or underserved, which is where the brand came to fruition; the two sisters, Rachel and Rikki, weren’t seeing women like them, of color, represented enough in fashion media.
Every month, Nappy-Head Club donates a percentage of its proceeds to charities that support the BIPOC community. The 100 Black Men of America Foundation, Black Lives Matter, the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, and many others have been a few of the organizations that Nappy-Head has supported.
Fear Of God
Fear Of God is another black-owned American luxury clothing brand founded in 2013 by Los Angeles designer Jerry Lorenzo.
This empowering brand prides itself in having timeless, minimal, laid-back luxury garments that will elevate your presence through the black-owned streetwear brands’ infamous muted colorways and quality textiles.
The vision for Jerry Lorenzo’s fashion brand derives heavily from Jerry’s love for grunge and punk rock and pulls inspiration from the late 80s and 90s.
You can see a variety of A-list celebrities rocking Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear Of God, such as Justin Bieber and Jay-Z, who have collaborated with famous name brands like Pacsun, Vans, Nike, Converse, and Adidas.
Denim Tears
Denim Tears, a black-owned brand founded in 2019 by designer and former creative director of the brand Supreme, Tremaine Emory, from New York.
The Denim Tears brand is a collection of stories revealing what Tremaine Emory calls the American Diaspora, honoring the African American heritage and confronting the ugly and harsh truths of American history and its relations to slavery through its signature cotton wreath logo.
Denim Tears has been in collaboration with brands like UGG, Stüssy, Dior, and Champion and continues to raise social awareness centered around American racism and reclaiming the racist past associated with POC and the cotton plant.
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Who Decides War?
Who Decides War is another black-owned clothing brand focused on the Black American experience, founded in 2018 by designer Everard Best.
The brand Who Decides War is trendy among today’s athletes, rappers, and other A-list celebrities, including the late Virgil Abloh, an African American fashion designer who founded Off-White.
With Everard Best’s urban-style clothing brand, he hopes to bring more awareness as to what’s going on in the world through fashion, utilizing layered fabrics and neutral colors in his various collections.
Fashion designer Everard Best believes that war is a spectrum. The renowned African-American-owned fashion brand embodies just that, whether it’s countries at war, war with another individual, or with yourself.
Feben
Feben is an eclectic, woman and black-owned fashion brand created by Feben Vemmenby out of London, England.
Febens designs are diverse and embrace African American culture through mixed prints, textiles, drapery, and tailoring.
From hand-embroidered gowns, 3D textiles, and irregular textures to stunning wide-leg trousers, the black-owned clothing brand has designed pieces for big names like Erykah Badu, Janelle Monáe, and Beyoncé.
Ciriaco
Ciriaco is a black-owned bag brand established in 2020 by designer Ashley Ciriaco from Atlanta, Georgia.
The contemporary brand is focused on statement accessory bags. It brings a fun and playful chic vibe to any outfit through its distinct vibrant hues, rich fabrics and textures, and asymmetrical silhouettes.
If you’re a sucker like myself for a unique bag that will have everyone asking where you found it, Ciriaco is a modern accessory brand you’ve got to shop ASAP.
Riot Swim
Riot Swim is a women’s swim and loungewear line created by model Monti Landers of Houston, Texas, in 2016.
Landers’ brand wasn’t made to follow trends but to set them.
Using fabrics specifically designed to give its wearers that buttery soft second-skin feeling, underwire support, and body sculpting silhouettes, it gives sexy minimalism to all of the swim brands bathing suit designs.
Riot’s swimwear has been featured in Harpers Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Vogue.
Lorvae
Lorvae is a modern eyewear brand created by YouTuber and social media influencer De’arra Taylor from Memphis, Tennessee, in 2022.
The Lorvae brand was born from De’arra’s immense love for accessorizing and her passion for collecting sunglasses.
Lorvae represents self-expression, creativity, and individuality through its extensive selection of eyewear with its pops of colors, unique shapes, and contemporary constructions.
Kai Collective
Kai Collective is a contemporary fashion brand for women based in London and was created by Nigerian designer Fisayo Longe in 2016.
Fisayo created Kai Collective, an attainable and sustainable clothing line, as a way for women to feel the utmost confidence in themselves through the brand’s vibrant and unique prints and chic silhouettes.
Kai Collective has been seen on celebrities like Saweetie and Adwoa Aboah and has even been featured in significant article publications for Forbes, Elle, Vogue, and Beyonce’s Directory of Black Owned Everything.
Brandon Blackwood
Brandon Blackwood is a minimal luxury accessory and clothing brand founded by Brandon Blackwood of Brooklyn, New York.
They launched their first line of handbags in 2015, featured in publications like Elle, Essence, and more.
The message behind Brandon Blackwood’s brand was created to empower creative Black and POC through philanthropy and activism, counteracting the systematic racism in America and inspiring a new generation of leaders.
The Brandon Blackwood brand gained lots of attention and shoppers in 2020 during the country-wide Black Lives Matter movement when they created their line of mini tote bags displaying the words “End Systematic Racism” on the front.
The proceeds from this bag were then donated to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an organization focused on aiding racial and ethnic minorities in finding legal representation while fighting civil rights cases.
You can spot Brandon Blackwood on many of today’s well-known celebs, from Lupita Nyongo, Cardi B, and Solange Knowles to Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian.
His designs have also been seen in high-end stores like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Hanifa
Hanifa is an everyday women’s clothing brand founded in 2011 by fashion designer Aniga Mvuemba from Congo.
The fashion brand empowers women of color to break barriers, achieve excellence, and make their own rules. It embodies these values by featuring primarily black and brown models in its shows and branding. Hanifa’s collections include many intensely vibrant colors, bold shapes, and asymmetric silhouettes, all inspired by African tailoring and hoping to set new trends luxuriously inspired by the African culture.
You can see Hanifa worn by people such as the beautiful Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Issa Rae, and has been featured in some major publications from Glamour to Harpers Bazaar and Elle.
Talk about luxury, and Hanifa serves! I have no words to express how much this dress caught my eye. Drapery, silhouette, color, it’s giving everything that it needs to give and more. The back of the dress is just as stunning, and the electric color gives it that extra chef’s kiss.
Rendoll
Rendoll is a feminine and body positivity-focused womenswear brand created in 2019 by Nigerian designer Reni (Abina) Kekere-Ekun (LLB, MBA).
The women’s wear brand strives to develop comprehensive and functional clothing for women that can be worn for many occasions and any body type. Through its bold designs and statement garments, the brand has empowered its consumers to celebrate their African heritage and culture and enhance one’s feminine features.
Furthermore, designer Abina has been able to birth a fashion brand that’s filled the gap in Nigerian fashion markets and caters to wearers longing for the luxury combined with the pops of color that Abina herself once had.
I am IN LOVE with the silhouette and the blue hues of this multicolored mesh maxi dress. This Wildbloom Mesh Dress would pair perfectly with a matching ultramarine heel for a date night or a formal evening out.
The world of fashion is rich with diversity, creativity, and unique voices waiting to be discovered.
These black-owned fashion brands represent not only style and innovation but also resilience and empowerment.
As you explore these brands, remember that every purchase is an opportunity to support and uplift underrepresented talents.
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Let’s continue celebrating and amplifying the voices shaping the future of fashion.
Share with us in the comments which brand resonated with you the most, and check out this related article on tips for discovering your own unique personal style.
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