34 min listen
The Folklore's Amira Rasool on building a shopping platform with African and Black-owned brands at the forefront
The Folklore's Amira Rasool on building a shopping platform with African and Black-owned brands at the forefront
ratings:
Length:
49 minutes
Released:
Jun 29, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
After returning from a trip to South Africa, The Folklore’s Amira Rasool was often stopped on the streets of New York and asked where she purchased her clothing, which she scored while abroad.
“I knew that African and Black-owned brands were the future because people were getting bored of the same old [stuff],” said Rasool, founder and CEO of The Folklore, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “These brands have a cultural and heritage point-of-view that shines through in their products.”
With research, Rasool discovered that most African brands did not have direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms of their own and were not stocked in retail stores outside of their home country. Rasool launched The Folklore in 2016 as the first B2B wholesale e-commerce platform exclusively focused on Black-owned and African brands.
“Combining my interest and knowledge of Black history and uplifting Black people in our socio-economic condition with my love for styling and telling stories, I created The Folklore,” said Rasool. “We built this product with African and Black-owned brands at the forefront and not as an afterthought."
The company’s designers are based in South Africa and Nigeria, but The Folklore is also developing relationships with brands in Ghana and Morocco. In addition, by September, the company is working to launch Folklore Connect, a B2B wholesale e-commerce platform that empowers global retailers to discover and shop for African and Black-owned fashion and lifestyle brands. The company’s current focus is on apparel, accessories, home and beauty, but will soon expand to new product categories and price points.
“With our curation, we still have the potential [to on-board] thousands of brands to the platform,” said Rasool. “We haven't even scratched the surface.”
“I knew that African and Black-owned brands were the future because people were getting bored of the same old [stuff],” said Rasool, founder and CEO of The Folklore, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “These brands have a cultural and heritage point-of-view that shines through in their products.”
With research, Rasool discovered that most African brands did not have direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms of their own and were not stocked in retail stores outside of their home country. Rasool launched The Folklore in 2016 as the first B2B wholesale e-commerce platform exclusively focused on Black-owned and African brands.
“Combining my interest and knowledge of Black history and uplifting Black people in our socio-economic condition with my love for styling and telling stories, I created The Folklore,” said Rasool. “We built this product with African and Black-owned brands at the forefront and not as an afterthought."
The company’s designers are based in South Africa and Nigeria, but The Folklore is also developing relationships with brands in Ghana and Morocco. In addition, by September, the company is working to launch Folklore Connect, a B2B wholesale e-commerce platform that empowers global retailers to discover and shop for African and Black-owned fashion and lifestyle brands. The company’s current focus is on apparel, accessories, home and beauty, but will soon expand to new product categories and price points.
“With our curation, we still have the potential [to on-board] thousands of brands to the platform,” said Rasool. “We haven't even scratched the surface.”
Released:
Jun 29, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
The Dreslyn founder Brooke Taylor Corcia: 'Data needs to be taken with a grain of salt': Brooke Taylor Corcia, the founder of online fashion and lifestyle store The Dreslyn, wanted to launch her own company to get a more accurate representation of West Coast fashion into the e-commerce lexicon. Three years after launching The Dreslyn as... by The Glossy Podcast