Diop
The inspiration to start your brand seemed to come as early as childhood. When did you first decide to start the company?
While the product is informed by my experience, the brand itself did not start until my dear friend and co-founder Evan Fried asked me where I got my Ankara shirt from at a cookout three years ago. We tinkered with prototypes for six months until in the spring of 2018, our friend Lauren Warner implored us to do a crowdfunding campaign. We were fortunate to raise tens of thousands of dollars in a little over a month. This enabled us to join a startup accelerator run by our postgraduate fellowship called Venture for America. We put out our first collection on September 20, 2018.
You use the same Ankara that your mother would return home with from Nigeria. How important is your West African heritage to the brand?
It's important but what is essential is that it resonates with like-minded people. Wax print fabric originates with batik in Indonesia in the 13th century. It was the Dutch who brought it to West Africa during the colonial period where it was then popularized and the concepts further exported. That's not to dismiss indigenous textile production or methods (which it is just as important we acknowledge and respect) but for the fabric we use, it wouldn't be possible to make the clothes we do without openness to different cultures and ideas. The history of wax print is long and we're just stewards of one current iteration.
What was your experience opening up a business as both a first-generation American and as a Black person in America? What were some of the challenges?
The challenges were and still are related to running business. You have to keep more money coming in than going out. And while that sounds clear, it is also what makes business difficult. Ask anyone early enough in their business and they'll tell you that it is not what you don't know, but what you don't know that you don't know. In other words, how does one look for answers when we aren't sure we're asking the right questions. We're fortunate to be a part of a community of startup and business leaders to both learn from mistakes they've made and grow from our own mistakes.
How has Covid-19 affected your business? What have been some of the challenges or opportunities?
COVID-19 has affected our business in many ways, some unique and some not. With regard to the former, we've had to build more resilience into our supply chain and reimagine our customer support process. As for the latter, the transition of retail formats to online has greatly benefitted direct-to-consumer companies like ours. The time we make to build relationships with people, no matter where they are, has made all the difference in navigating the new landscape we all inhabit.
The community section of the Diop webpage is incredible. What drove you to create a collective space of inclusion for your brand?
Beyond just products that fit your lifestyle, our aim is to build a brand that reflects the world you live in. We set out to interview every single customer we can, not only to learn who they are but what drives them. And we learned that it wasn't just important that people see themselves in our brand but hear themselves too. Among others, one way we do that is to regularly hand over the platform for them to discuss what is most meaningful to them. Although there are many different narratives from people of many different backgrounds, what ties them together thematically is that each and every person is on a journey and we're right there with them.
You define and contextualize cultural appropriation on your website. Why was this important for you to include?
We talk about what it means to us and I must stress that others should feel free to disagree. We don't speak for everybody, nor would we claim to. "Who Can Wear This?" is a question we answer regularly and we believe, from our vantage point, it would be more constructive to dedicate a live page on our site. We feel fortunate to have such a sensitive, thoughtful and engaged audience.
What has the Black Lives Matter movement meant to you and your brand?
When Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi started Black Lives Matter, we had just started college. And because of the work of activists, organizers, and volunteers like them, there's a broader understanding of the systemic challenges we face as a society and deeper meaning to the personal choices we make within that framework. With DIOP, we focus on how to build and share good habits, from representation and inclusion to sustainability and transparency. We take a narrow view of what companies are meant to do (capitalism as a vector of racism is a challenge we all face) but since a brand is simply a point of view, we can use brand strategy and creative direction to further articulate our values.
What message would you like Diop apparel to convey by those who wear it?
We make clothes for whomever wants to wear them. It isn't even really about the garment but how it makes you feel and what you do in it that is important. We might make them but you give it meaning.
What do you see for the future of Diop?
More products, goods and services to help you feel more like you.
The Brooklyn Circus
How and when did the idea to create the brand come to pass?
I've always been fascinated by the power and beauty of what you can communicate through clothing, it's history and how it captures truth in the human personality. The clothes don't make the man, but you really are what you wear. There is so much you say and don't say in what you choose to wear or not wear. So that relationship with clothing, history and expression turned into the mission of launching a career in design first then the clothing industry is what sparked me to launch The Brooklyn Circus in 2006.
The aesthetics of the apparel seem moody, vintage, and refreshing. What are the inspirations behind the designs?
I am a self taught Graphic Designer, with a degree in African Studies, born in Haiti to a traveling mother, raised by a household of strong women-four sisters, lots of aunts and a humble but opinionated grandmother. That pretty much describes my interest in people, details and vintage- which are all the elements or notes you feel, taste and see in what The Brooklyn Circus does.
What was your experience opening up a business as a Black person in America?
I was in my early 20's when I opened my first clothing store. I worked in the nightlife for several years and worked in corporate for close to a year. I learned quickly what I could put up with and what I couldn't. I loved the finer things in life and loved working, but I was always patient and not willing to compromise my comfort to work in a certain environment. So launching my own business was a willingness to deal with the reality of being Black in America but on my own terms.
How has Covid-19 affected your business? What have been some of the challenges or opportunities?
It started out really strange and then became really interesting. We went from having to close the store, to deciding to launch our new site-the best decision we made to the overlap of the Black Lives Matter uprising and BOOM! our business was up 200%.
What has the Black Lives Matter movement meant to your brand?
It speaks to who we are. The Brooklyn Circus and our 100yrplan is a statement of protest. It's our story as told by us-with love and care and not an ounce of hate. It's the story that our education system from K-12 neglected to share with us. I learned more about Black History while an African Studies major at Stony Brook than all the previous years I spent learning about history through the white, oppressive American lens.
The editorial pieces on the website are invigorating. Were these journalistic interviews of artists and creative people always a part of the plan for The Brooklyn Circus?
All of that is rooted in our love for the Circus concept, Jazz, Hip Hop and Reggae music. We built a global village around The Brooklyn Circus, so we are always surrounded by the most amazing, talented, creative people from across the globe. It's really a Circus concept- A platform to present not only what we do but how it relates to what our creative network is doing. Thinking of the village and culture every step of the way, which leaves so much room for improvisation- like Jazz music.
What message would you like The Brooklyn Circus apparel to convey by those who wear it?
Like music we are clear about the elements/instruments we use in what we do, but we are open to how you interpret every piece. We leave a level of abstraction in the work, the collections and everything to leave room for you to add your journey to it. The Brooklyn Circus is a journey in self exploration and we plan to go deep, so the 100year plan gives us enough time to take it slow, enjoy the journey and unlearn some things along the way.