One of my clearest memories from the spring of 2020 was a European private equity guy calling me in a panic, asking me if I knew of any Black-owned brands looking for investors. He was particularly focused on “streetwear” and “merch.” I said yes, but that many of these young brands were still at an early stage, maybe only generating one or two million dollars a year in revenue.
He didn’t care, even though his firm had only invested in brands that were far bigger. The reason, he said, was that merch brands were easier to scale than ready-to-wear, and there was, as civil rights protests took place right outside my Brooklyn door, an imperative to invest in these creators, and to take Black consumers—a growing segment of the luxury market—more seriously, too.
