“It doesn’t matter if it’s skateboarding or snowboarding or hip hop or denim. Retailers also fail to recognize the diverse range of product offered by black creators, instead lumping it all into one category called “urban,” Owerka-Moore said. “Over time, it snowballed into something that wasn’t beneficial to most of us in our careers at a later date.” “It’s easier to purchase and plan when you know that this consumer base is coming in your store for that,” he said. Once buyers recognized the buying power of streetwear consumers, other manufacturers began moving into the space. One of the challenges of early streetwear creators was convincing big retailers that there was a market for their product, Joseph said. “All of a sudden, the labels of urban, hip hop, black fashion…everyone started squeezing into one pocket.” “As the industry got bigger and bigger, it seemed like everything lumped into one,” he said. The early days of streetwear in the 1990s was very diverse, but changed as the market grew, Berry said. “That mentally puts us in a separate box when people think about anything done by someone black and anything done by someone white,” he said. TJ Walker, who co-founded Cross Colours in 1989 and grew it to an international powerhouse, said the separate but equal concept is ingrained in the U.S. “There’s so many code names for marketing to us for us, but not by us. “Why do we have a multicultural division when it comes to advertisements versus just advertisement dollars?” she said. We never hear it called white fashion.”Īpril Walker, who launched her Walker Wear collection in 1992, said black creatives’ experience in the fashion industry is “a microcosm for what exists in our world.” When it’s white brands, black culture, it’s for everyone. “When it’s black brands, black culture, it’s only for black people. It’s important to “look at why black fashion - urban - is labeled, stereotyped and dismissed,” she said. Without them there is no streetwear industry today as we know it today.”īerry said the topic is personal for her because she watched black designers, who had grown the streetwear market “from zero to billions of dollars,” not get the recognition they deserved “because of the color of their skin and color of racism.” These are the visionaries and the creatives that sparked trends that have been chased for the past 25 years. In her introduction of the panelists, Berry described the group as “true cultural pioneers of a total fashion movement. Elyse said that despite the financial success of streetwear brands such as Enyce, Fubu, Phat Farm and Rocawear, working in streetwear “is often met with disdain.” The inspiration for the panel was sparked by a social media message Leverton received from designer Morgan Elyse, who works at Washed & Destroyed Goods. The panel was moderated by Simone Berry (Rocawear, Public School NYC), who Leverton described as having “an encyclopedic knowledge of the streetwear industry in America.” Fiberops Droors, Dub) April Walker (Walker Wear) Bobby Joseph (FUBU, Platinum FUBU) and TJ Walker (Cross Colours). 19 and featuring a veritable who’s who of designers who created and built the American streetwear industry.ĭenim Dudes’ founder Amy Leverton organized the panel, which included Donwan Harrell (Akademiks, PRPS, Art Meets Chaos) Alyasha Owerka-Moore (Phat Farm, Alphanumeric. were discussed at a virtual roundtable, held Aug. The history of streetwear and the challenges of black designers working in fashion in the U.S. Top row: Amy Leverton, Simone Berry, TJ Walker middle row: Alyasha Owerka-Moore, Bobby Joseph April Walker bottom row: Donwan Harrell
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