As the fashion and retail landscape dramatically shifts across America, the opportunity for emerging brands has attracted attention to his eponymous womenswear brand. Despite Covid-19, he has quickly shifted to producing masks for the NYC community in partnerships with local nonprofits. His “Made in America” approach to ethical manufacturing was awarded a small grant from NYC non-profit, Harlem’s Fashion Row’s ICON 360 initiative (a recipient of $1 million from The Council of Fashion Designers of America x VOGUE’s “Common Thread” $5 million fund), 1 of 27 designers of color allocated funding. He credits The Art Institute for his equipping him with a strong technical design and production background developing quality design as the industry confronts demands for social consciousness amongst global environmental and racial equity concerns. Featured this month in Vogue Mexico’s editorial on young design talent, he speaks to the rigor and patience it has taken to make is stake in the international fashion industry:
"I may have been naïve to leap into the title of Fashion Designer, but like I said earlier, I was raised with a strict sense of duty to a greater whole—building community. So when I ‘found’ my brand, that sounds like it was an accident, something to happen by chance. But the truth is I have forged this brand. When asked, I point to everything around me in my studio and say, “This wasn’t built because of a ‘yes’. Everything you see exists despite every exclusionary ‘no’,” for whatever reason. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I know what I am trying to work towards. I’d like to see fashion truly exercise inclusion to reimagine what that means. To me, that’s listening to more voices and then, as a fashion designer, using my brand as a lens for that idealism to aspire towards."
