Amira Rasool is the Founder and CEO of The Folklore. The Folklore is a New York City-based multi-brand online concept store and wholesale showroom that allows U.S. based and international customers to easily shop exclusive styles from Africa and the diaspora’s top luxury and emerging fashion brands. Her sole desire is to help these brands thrive in an industry that often ignores them in favour of European and American brands.
While travelling in South Africa to explore her interests, Rasool discovered the country’s budding fashion scene and its unique array of designers. She bought a bunch of items and wore them when she got back to New York. Her friends in the fashion industry loved them. But in an attempt to introduce them to the brands she’d found on her trip, Rasool soon realized that almost none had any sort of e-commerce presence internationally.
It just kept replaying in the back of her head that there’s something in this space. Three years of late nights, a temporary move to Cape Town, and a $30,000 investment later, Rasool is now known in the fashion industry for her work in bringing Black and African brands to the U.S.
In an interview with Black Enterprise, Amira Rasool said that she thinks it was important to showcase these brands because they have been devalued, under-funded and grossly represented, not for the lack of talent, but because of the lack of access and then purely just racism. She is keen on protecting the integrity of African designers and to prevent them from getting used by larger corporations.
Rasool provides consulting services for brands sold at The Folklore and beyond. Her goal is to allow them to be sustainable and profitable in the long-term. She does this by educating them on how to increase sales by offering an e-commerce platform or connecting them with other brands that they can collaborate with. Rasool is making sure that these brands have a space that they can always make money from.
Amira Rasool biggest goal and dream is for The Folklore to be the LVMH of Africa.
We commend Amira Rasool for her outstanding efforts in giving African designers and creatives the international exposure they deserve!!!
Source: Refinery29, Black Enterprise
