Telfar Clemens facts for kids

Telfar Clemens (born in 1985) is a talented fashion designer from Liberia and America. He is famous for starting his own fashion brand called Telfar. Telfar has won many awards for his designs. He won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2017. He also won the CFDA Fashion Award for American Accessories Designer of the Year in both 2020 and 2021.

Early Life and School

Telfar Clemens was born in Lefrak City, Queens, New York, in 1985. His parents were from Liberia. His family moved back to Liberia for a short time. But to stay safe from the Second Liberian Civil War, they moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland.

When Telfar was in high school, his teacher designed special symbols called monograms for all the students. The monogram his teacher gave him later became the well-known logo for his brand.

In 2005, Telfar was studying accounting at Pace University. He also worked as a DJ. He loved to shop for women's European fashion brands. In 2005, he started his own fashion brand, Telfar, which designs clothes for everyone. He finished his accounting degree from Pace University in 2008.

Telfar's Fashion Career

Telfar Clemens met Babak Radboy in 2004. Babak later joined Telfar's company in 2013. He became the creative director and a business partner.

In 2014, Telfar released his first version of the Shopping Bag. This bag later became very popular and a must-have item.

In September 2016, Telfar and Babak worked on an art project for the Berlin Biennale. It included a video made by artists Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch.

In May 2017, Telfar worked with singer Solange Knowles. He designed the outfits for her and her dancers for a special show. This show was called "An Ode To" and took place at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Exciting Collaborations

In September 2017, Telfar designed uniforms for 400 White Castle restaurants. White Castle is a famous fast-food chain. In October 2017, Telfar also released a special clothing collection with White Castle. All the money from this partnership helped young people who needed support. That same year, he won the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award. He received $400,000, and he used a lot of this money to make more Telfar Shopping Bags.

In February 2019, Telfar showed his Fall Winter 2019 collection in New York City. It was a big event celebrating Black future(s) month. About 1000 guests attended. Instead of a normal runway, models were crowd-surfed through the audience! The show also had live music from artists like Ho9999, Na-Kel Smith, and Oyinda.

In early 2020, Telfar announced he would work with Gap Inc.. However, this collection was put on hold in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bag Security Program

In August 2020, Telfar started something new called the Bag Security Program. For one day, people could pre-order bags online. This guaranteed they would get their bag by the holidays that year. Telfar Clemens said he created it "so that people could be able to get the thing that they wanted." This program helped them understand how many bags they could sell in one day. The Bag Security Program has happened two more times since then, both in 2021.

In June 2020, Queerty magazine honored Telfar. They named him one of fifty heroes leading the nation toward equality for all people. This was for the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade. In September 2020, Telfar launched a line of durags. Soon after, he announced a partnership with UGG for a collection that came out in fall 2021.

In September 2020, Telfar Clemens won the Accessories Designer of the Year award at the CFDA Awards.

In 2021, another large American company, GUESS, made a bag that looked very similar to the Telfar Shopping Bag. It had a G-logo instead of the Telfar logo. However, the company that made the GUESS bags decided to stop selling them. They said they did not want to get in the way of Telfar's success.

Telfar Clemens gets ideas from designers like Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Yohji Yamamoto. He also likes "lifestyle" brands such as Calvin Klein, DKNY, and Polo Ralph Lauren.

Famous Designs

The Telfar Shopping Bag is made from vegan leather. It has the special "T" Telfar logo. Fashion magazines have called it an "it-bag" and "the decade's most important accessory." The bag was inspired by shopping bags from Bloomingdale's. People sometimes call it the "Bushwick Birkin" because it is both stylish and affordable.

In 2018, singer Kelela wrote about the bag in her column for T magazine.

The bag often sells out within minutes when new ones are released. In July 2020, the demand was so high that the website crashed! Telfar's team first thought that robots were buying the bags to sell them for more money. But they realized that most of the demand was from real people who wanted the bag.

In November 2020, Oprah Winfrey chose the Telfar Bag as one of her 'Favorite Things'. Many other famous people also promote the bag. These include Real Housewives of New York City star Sonja Morgan, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Swae Lee, Ashton Sanders, and Dua Lipa.

In 2021, Telfar designed the official uniforms for the Liberian team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

In 2022, singer Beyoncé mentioned the brand in her song "Summer Renaissance." She later wore a Telfar tracksuit during her Renaissance World Tour show in Seattle.

Rapper Maiya The Don released a song called "Telfy" in October 2022. It is all about the famous shopping bag.

Awards and Honors

Telfar Clemens has received several important awards for his work in fashion: