Brandice Daniel is a dreamer. Since she founded Harlem’s Fashion Row in 360, her goal has been to bridge the inequality between black designers and the retail market. “For the past 10 years, we’ve been telling people that black designers make up less than 1 percent of the designers sold at major retailers,” Daniel said, “but we’ve never Not allowing people to buy these black brands on the HFR platform.” Now, that’s all changing with the official launch of HFR&Co., an online shopping directory for Harlem’s fashion streets.
Created in partnership with retailers including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Shopbop, Nordstrom and Farfetch, HFR&Co. aims to facilitate consumer searches for Black and Latino-owned brands. “One of the challenges that exists right now is when people walk into a store and they want to buy a Black or Latin brand, they can’t find it,” Daniel said. “[Now you can] come here and shop easily, [and] see a range of price points,” she adds. Daniel and her team have curated a selection of menswear, womenswear and childrenswear designers including Wales Bonner, Aluhwalia, Botter and Sergio Hudson.
“It was a big moment for us because we said to retailers, if you’re going to bring in more black brands, we’re going to emphasize that,” Daniel explained . “We hope that as we grow and sell, we help retailers sell more from brands and help designers get more orders.” This will also be Icon 15, Harlem’s Fashion Row’s non-profit foundation providing financial and professional resources, 10% of all proceeds will go to designers and HBCU.
In the future, Daniel is looking to expand the catalog and some projects are already underway. With 360, we can expect more designers and beauty brands.
View the full HFR&Co catalog at: https://hfrandco.com/.
2023
