Fashion | September 22nd, 2021
For The Fashion Industry, Telfar Transforms The Meaning Of Luxury
By: Lendsey Augustin
Telfar Clemens, a Liberian-American from Queens, has changed the meaning of luxury with his genderless, affordable, vegan leather shopping bag. The infamous mononymous bag was first showcased in 2014, however, sales skyrocketed in 2020 due to the rise in activism and the Black community vowing to support their own businesses. Since then, Telfar has become the new “Birkin” of the millennium, with its minimalistic embossed logo, street style aesthetic and vegan leather exterior.
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Kathryn Lewis, a fashion enthusiast, believes Telfar transformed the meaning of luxury and exclusivity. “I think that Telfar changed what it means to be a Black designer and be synonymous with luxury. A lot of times people don’t associate Black designers with luxury,” says Lewis. She continues, “I mean we’ve seen everyone from Beyonce, Normani, and so many more black elite rocking a Telfar bag. So I believe Telfar changed the game by just showing that Black is luxury.”
Since its entry onto the radar of the masses, Telfar has grasped the attention of the industry’s elite circle. From appearing on Oprah’s coveted list of favorite things to designing the 2021 Olympic uniforms for Liberia, Clemens has clinched pivotal moments in his career while maintaining the standard of inclusivity.
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Consumers have largely resonated with the label’s “Not for you, for everyone” mantra. For years, Clemens’ ingenuity has centered the African Diaspora and dismantled the industry’s status quo. “I love the way he has created accessible fashion by really disrupting an industry that creates an inequitable price of entry,” says Tenicka Boyd, a content creator from Manhattan, New York. “I want Telfar in this world, thriving and creating and making extraordinary, accessible, fashion forward bags that speak against the binaries of gender and center the comfort and style of everyone.”
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John J. Lee, a senior UX Design Manager from Seattle, WA., feels as if Telfar has shifted the industry to prioritize impact over performative alignment. With the bag gaining much of its popularity during the racial reckoning of 2020, many companies have tried to implement the importance of amplifying marginalized voices into their brands. “It’s no longer enough for brands to pump out ‘it’ products and remain silent on what’s going on in the world. They need to use their platforms for good and actually stand for something of substance, in order to resonate with younger shoppers,” says Lee.
Most of all, for minority creators like Boyd, the label’s originality inspires a wave of creativity throughout the fashion space. Boyd says, “Telfar’s ability to create that kind of space for me and all the other Black creatives who dare to dream in this inequitable world of fashion … means the world to me.”
