Black-Owned Fashion Brands and Boutiques to Support Now and Forever

This post was originally published at an earlier date. Since our support for Black-owned brands is a forever kind of thing, we thought we'd update any sold-out products to make it easy to shop the latest and greatest from some of our favorite designers.

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(Image credit: @brothervellies)

In the wake of still reckoning with recent events—the murders of George FloydAhmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor—many people, including the Who What Wear editorial team, have been asking what they can do. Aurora James, the founder and designer of Brother Vellies, answered that question by creating the Fifteen Percent Pledge, which calls major retailers to pledge 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses. Swipe through her Instagram post below to read more about the reasoning and impact.

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But what if you're an individual? You can put pressure on these major retailers by contacting the company or commenting on their social posts. You can also consider dedicating 15% or more of your personal fashion spending to Black-owned brands.

It's also important to note that the financial impact of COVID-19 has generally hit Black-owned brands harder than others, as illustrated in the graphic below by Mona Chalabi. The New York Times opinion article "How We Spend Tells Us Whose Lives Matter" delves into one of the reasons: inequality around stimulus packages. Thinking longer-term about positive economic change for the Black community, it's crucial to support these businesses now so that we don't lose them due to financial hardships associated with the pandemic. To that end, we're listing some of our favorite businesses here in the fashion category. Shop if you can, and if not, bookmark for later, knowing that your purchase is doing more than just satisfying your shopping habit.

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1. Brother Vellies

2. Sincerely, Tommy

3. Fe Noel

4. Lemlem

5. Jade Swim

6. The Folklore

7. Pyer Moss

8. McMullen

9. Telfar

10. LaSette

11. Christopher John Rogers

12. House of Aama

13. Heron Preston

14. Stella Jean

15. Sami Miro Vintage

16. Victor Glemaud

17. Wales Bonner

18. LaQuan Smith

19. Vavvoune

20. Tove

21. Oma the Label

22. Kahindo

Next: If You're Not Already Shopping These Black-Owned Indie Brands, You Should Be

Editor in Chief

Kat Collings has over 15 years of experience in the editorial fashion space, largely in digital publishing. She currently leads the vision for editorial content at WhoWhatWear.com as the site's editor in chief, having risen through the editorial ranks after joining the company in 2012. Collings is a Digiday Future Leader Awards nominee, was named Buzzfeed's best fashion Instagram accounts of the year, and is a member of the CFDA Awards Fashion Guild. Prior to Who What Wear, Collings worked on styling projects for brands such as Vogue, Teen Vogue, Lucky, and Oliver Peoples. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in communications and calls Los Angeles home.