The accessories designer, who launched his label in 2015 but whose profile skyrocketed during the pandemic, has built his business on the premise of virtual community engagement.
The designer, for some time, sensed that his bag business had significant legs. So now amplifying what has made his bags a sell-out success, Blackwood plans to launch a shoe and ready-to-wear line later this year.
But when the murder of George Floyd kicked off a social reckoning in the summer of 2020, Blackwood — who is of Chinese and Jamaican descent — felt inclined to do his part. He designed an $85 canvas tote inscribed with “End Systemic Racism,” a product that was quickly dubbed the ESR tote and sold by the thousands.
“Being a Black designer, people always want a trauma story, they want some race trauma story or for me to be like, ‘fight the power,’ 24/7. I just genuinely like these bags and I feel like I keep having to fight back against this. It’s the same thing for Black creatives in general. I have friends in fine art and their work won’t look like another [Black artist’s] work but they are compared constantly,” he said.
Blackwood said he had the foresight to hire an executive because he knew his expansion ideas were not possible to pull off alone. “It’s so strange, Jason came in with all acronyms and stuff. I thought I knew everything,” Blackwood laughed. The designer’s appeal stretches wide and he enlists a Michael Kors-type playbook of making bags for the masses, producing covetable mini trunks, shoulder bags and crossbodies in a wide assortment of candy colors and neutrals to meet shoppers where they are most comfortable. Most of Blackwood’s designs are priced at less than $500 and he aims for his footwear and ready-to-wear collections to remain aligned with that pricing.
This personal approach will now be applied to a wider range of products. Blackwood’s first shoe designs, for instance, offer fresh takes on designs that he thinks shoppers are actively in search of — like a good high heel or over-the-knee boot. The designer did not want photos of sketches or initial samples publicly released, for fear of of being copied by major high-street entities, which have the muscle to produce versions of Blackwood’s designs before his are even released.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
4th day of deliberations starts in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plotAdam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta are charged with a kidnapping conspiracy. Three of them also face additional charges, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely an explosive.
Read more »
Prices increase 9%, inventory remains historically low in hot Denver housing marketAchieving the American dream isn’t getting any easier, especially in Colorado. via RussellHaythorn
Read more »
What It’s Like to Be Diagnosed With a Mental Disorder That “Doesn’t Officially Exist”Stephanie Foo finally had her dream job at This American Life. Then a startling diagnosis derailed everything.
Read more »
‘I am so thankful He let me live’: Bainbridge woman saved moments before car crushed during stormA tree fell on Rhonda Kendrick’s car as she was stopped at a stop sign on Tuesday.
Read more »