AfroPunk has been at the forefront of spotlighting Black talent since its inception in 2005 with its highly attended annual international arts and music festival, held globally in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Paris, and London. At each festival, Afropunk hosts the Spinthrift Market, or “a mini-festival within a festival,” as Afropunk’s Global Strategic Partnerships Anita Asante calls it. Here festival-goers can find an array of one-of-a-kind and bespoke items inspired by African art and textiles from jewelry, natural beauty products, apparel, books, home decor, and more.
After seeing the kind of response Spinthrift Market gets (they receive thousands of applicants each year and the majority of vendors sell out almost 80% of their entire stock), the Afropunk team noticed vendors were able to meet their yearly goals in only a single weekend, however, they couldn’t sustain the newfound attention beyond the festival. So this year, Afropunk decided to take it one step further.
“We took a moment to brainstorm and think — how can we set these designers up for success while also helping them build on the festival’s momentum for long-term achievements?” Asante tells GRAZIA USA. “And from there came the birth of the Black Fashion Accelerator.”
To bring this idea to reality, Afropunk partnered with e-commerce platform Shopify to launch the accelerator program with a common goal: to not only provide visibility to Black-owned designers but empower them. The six-month program offers live training, coaching support, and networking opportunities to help scale their business to the next level. Within three months Asante and her team were flooded with 904 applications from Black designers looking for support.
Out of all the applications received, its inaugural class includes, Bronté Laurent, founder of the clothing brand par Bronté Laurent; Archie Clay III and Tajh Crutch, co-founders of Wear Brims; Corin Lindsay, founder of Corin DeMarco; Sophia Danner-Okotie, founder of Besida; Melissa A. Mitchell, founder of Abeille Creations; Paakow Essandoh, founder of Mizizi; Sylvester Ndhlovu, founder of RuvaAfricWear; Valerie Blaise, founder of Vavvoune; and Jelisa Smith, founder of House of Fleek.
“We decided on a small group of nine participants because we wanted each designer to have individualized attention to get precisely what they want out of the program,” Asante explains. “It also allows them to be connected one on one with our skilled mentors like Chris Bevans, the creative director of menswear brand Dyne.”
In addition to the mentorship and support the brands will receive, it will all culminate with a fashion show on July 13 and a $5,000 grant. The runway show will be held in the Shopify space in New York City, where each designer will take the stage to debut five designs reflecting their teachings to an audience of editors, influencers, and the New York Fashion set to show the fruits of their labor — and amplify their work even further.
