The Rise of Telfar
By now, you’re probably familiar with the Telfar logo, most likely because you’ve seen it on the coveted vegan leather tote bags. The brand has become extremely popular in the past few years and it's clear why. Telfar combines functionality with luxury and sells it at pretty reasonable prices (for a high-end brand). Almost everything sells out quickly, and the bags even sell out in minutes. The New York Times called 2020 the “Year of Telfar.” This brand did not even have a Wikipedia page in 2019, and now they’re dominating the market for combining streetwear and high-fashion. It's also become a staple in the wardrobes of celebrities like Bella Hadid and Solange. But where did this brand come from and how did they become so well-known so quickly?
The Telfar brand has actually been around for a while, but only those deep in the fashion world knew about it. The way the brand has shot to fame makes it seem like success came easy, but the man behind it all has worked hard for over a decade to get the respect he deserved in the industry. Telfar Clemens is a 36-year-old Liberian-American that started his journey as a designer in 2005. Growing up in Queens, New York to two immigrant parents, he felt limited by the clothing options for boys his age and struggled to feel comfortable in anything he wore. As a Black gay man, he struggled to fit into the gender roles he was expected to. He grew up in LeFrak City, a working-class neighborhood that often has high rates of crime. In an interview with the Gay Times, Telfar said “I was always attracted to the conceptual advantages that womenswear had over menswear, but growing up I wasn’t allowed by my parents to wear or buy womenswear, so I started to make my own clothes — I wanted to make a line that was genderless and spoke to people like me.”
The authenticity in Telfar’s designs is something that can’t be replicated by someone who has never experienced uncertainty about their gender identity like he has.
Inspired by this, he decided to create genderless clothes that allowed wearers to decided how they wanted to express themselves. His Liberian heritage and Queens upbringing are also very present in his work. Telfar makes well-designed clothing that combines elements of both menswear and womenswear to represent the true meaning of unisex and questions the ideas of gender in a way that’s not too obvious. Other designers have tried to make unisex collections, but it tends to come off as tacky and artificial. It’s easy to spot when a brand just wants to jump on the train of making genderless clothing to appeal to what’s popular in the fashion world versus when it comes from real creative inspiration. The authenticity in Telfar’s designs is something that can’t be replicated by someone who has never experienced uncertainty about their gender identity like he has. It's about finding what compliments any type of body, rather than focusing on how to suit a male or female body. It's always wearable, which is another layer that makes Telfar different. Many brands that make unisex clothing rely on avant-garde aesthetics to blur the line between genders, but Telfar prefers to make everyday clothing. He incorporates Black culture, both the one he knew in his New York City neighborhood and the one his Liberian parents taught him, and his queer identity.
The brand took off with the 2014 launch of the shopping bag in sizes small, medium and large, modeled after Bloomingdale's shopping bag sizes. The bag combines the luxury of a designer brand with a convenient and classic design at an affordable price. Celebrities like Solange, Emily Ratajkowski, Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid, A$AP Ferg and many more started wearing the bags. However, Telfar has always said the brand was for the people, and he stays true to this in the sale of the bag. He wanted to make a quality bag that made luxury accessible to normal people, and when people complained bots were buying out the bags to resell them at higher prices, he made the Telfar Bag Security Program.
The brand, especially the bag, now has cult-favorite status within the industry and with the public. The bag was dubbed the “Brooklyn Birkin” for how popular it is in the New York City boroughs. In August of 2020, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was seen wearing a Telfar bag to Congress. She represents the 14th District of New York, which includes Clemens’ neighborhood, LeFrak City. The congresswoman also posted on her Instagram story about how proud she was of Telfar, saying he was “another NY-14 native using their talents to challenge us to question convention and imagine a different world.”
Telfar is now a globally known brand that only seems to be getting more successful with every season of new releases and drops of the beloved bag. It's refreshing to see a Black creative in the fashion industry become so respected and admired while also staying true to their roots and inspirations. You can check out the website here- all the shopping bags are currently sold out, but you can sign up for their mailing list if you want to see what all the hype is about.
