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A premium online platform for Black-owned fashion
Michael Thomas and Michael Taylor were both at the College between 1997 and 2004, and between them have worked across the retail and creative industries. Recently launched, Ourhood Community is a curated platform for premium Black-owned brands and creative talent, which will offer a unique edit of gender-neutral fashion and lifestyle products.
feels special that one of the first people we reached out to has stayed part of the community. Do you and Michael have a background in fashion? Michael has been in fashion buying for 14 years now which is of course hugely important for us. My background is media and advertising and I have worked in media agencies for just over eight years. Recently I have moved on to the sales and advertising side of things. We’ve been talking about doing a project together for a while and we felt that with this, our skill sets were complementary and would help us to make it a success. So then how did you turn your idea into practice? Initially our thoughts were that we wanted to start with a digital marketplace. But then we were presented with an opportunity to occupy a physical space in Peckham at Market Peckham last summer where we did a six-week pop-up, and that went really well. After that we decided to continue doing a pop- up, having a physical presence. Recently, we began a relationship with a Black owned pub, The Prince of Peckham. The idea now is to launch the digital marketplace in the new year, whilst maintaining the residency at The Prince of Peckham and we’ve got lots more planned. Do you feel it has achieved what you hope to achieve? Without doubt the main measure of success for us is knowing that the brands are happy. The feedback has been so positive, even overwhelming at times, because, you know, some of the brands that we're dealing with are one person operations and it's very hard to do everything. There is this amazing designer called Cherish Chirume who creates fashion for men that goes way beyond just being items of clothing. She is proud that every piece she produces tells a story that appreciates the strength, diversity, beauty and imagination of African communities spread across the continent; fromMadagascar to Ethiopia, Malawi to Eswatini, all created without appropriating the essence of a proud and eclectic populace. With her clothing she tells funny, quirky stories. Endearing stories that connect us and keep us connected to
We caught up with Michael Thomas at Ourhood's second pop-up event at the Prince of Peckham. Where did the idea for Ourhood Community come from? What is its purpose? Ourhood Community started as a conversation between myself and Michael (Taylor). It was during the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd had just happened and the Black Lives Matter protests were going on. We met with our sons in the local park and the conversation turned to our experiences with racism in the past and how we want things to be different for our kids. We both recognised the importance of creating a space in particular for Black creators to grow and be discovered by other people. After those initial ideas we started doing some research about what was already out there and we quickly realised that there wasn't really anything that was similar to what we wanted to do with Ourhood Community. We went online and research showed that while there was a considerable effort to portray a Black aesthetic through styling and cultural referencing as well the use of Black models, only a tiny minority of fashion brands were Black owned. We wanted to make sure that Black creators who were producing exciting and innovative styles could be seen by a broader audience. What happened next? The next thing we had to do was find the brands we wanted to work with. We gave a lot of thought to which brands we wanted to focus on. The criteria was not simply that the brand was Black owned, we also wanted the products to be of high quality. They also had to celebrate considerable craftsmanship and have a story to tell. So we started hunting for brands, we had a few conversations with people that we already knew. One of the first people we spoke to was Wale Adeyemi MBE, who started his fashion brand 25 years ago, called B-Side. It was a brand we had worn when we were kids so we really identified with it. It was great to be able to speak with him. He had lots of good ideas and offered some valuable advice. Even better, he has remained involved in Ourhood ever since. It
the continent. Cherish literally does everything from product design, sourcing material through to accounting and doing her own social media. I know the support you can offer Cherish and other designers is much appreciated but have you seen the idea of a community go beyond that? Definitely. We hope too that we have started to create something that goes beyond just what we can do and even if we can't help somebody, then hopefully somebody else in the community has experience or has a concept that they can put to good use as well for the benefit of everyone. You support the community in other ways too. Yes, we are proud to support the Damilola Taylor Trust as well as offering workshops to young people interested in a career in fashion. A percentage of all Ourhood Community profits will be donated to black focused charities, aiming to give back to the community, tackle social injustice and create opportunities for the next generation.
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