Telfar is a black-owned brand, established in 2005 by Telfar Clemmons. Despite it being founded seventeen years ago, the brand didn’t reach popularity until around 2020. With its growing popularity, it’s been a challenge for many to get one before they sell out, until now.
The brand Telfar features all kinds of things like belts, hats, tracksuits, and more. Although the brand’s selection is very versatile, there has been one item customers have been fixated on obtaining: the now iconic leather shopping bag.
The bag has a square-like silhouette and features the brand’s logo on the front. It comes in a variety of colors including bubble gum pink, pool blue, and highlighter green. The bags come in sizes small, medium, and large and are priced at between 150 and 257 dollars.
The bag is now somewhat of a global phenomenon that has had the “fashion girlies” in what the internet calls a “chokehold” for the past two years. Celebrities like Gabrielle Union, Zoë Kravitz, Solangé, and Oprah have all been spotted with the bag.
Beyonce even shouted out the brand in her song “Summer Renaissance” proclaiming “…this Telfar bag imported.”
Clearly, the bag has gained a lot of recognition and has kind of become a symbol of Black luxury. However, don’t be fooled, the popularity of the bag does not reflect how challenging it is to get one. The affordability and simple yet fashionable design of it makes the item desired by many but had by few.
Despite the brand’s numerous releases, due to their popularity, the iconic bags sell out almost as soon as they drop. Because of their high demand, resellers, and bots used by resellers “buy” bags that would go to loyal customers and sell them for high markups. This defeats the purpose of the bags being a form of luxury, accessible to more people.
Fortunately, the brand’s founder instilled a program called “bag security”. The bag security program makes it harder for bots and resellers to get hold of released bags before loyal customers but still for some getting a bag was a challenge.
Luckily, Clemmons paired up with Rainbow, a well-known clothing store in NYC to do a “Rainbow Drop”. The drop featured every single shopping bag in every single color and size all at once. One drop would take place in person at a downtown Brooklyn Rainbow location and for those who couldn’t be present, the other would take place online. This made it easier to “secure the bag” and left far more Telfar fans with bags in hand and smiles on their faces.
Clemmons’ decision to have a “Rainbow Drop ” resulted in so many happy customers. Though the drop attracted a lot of people, most of them were still able to snag a bag. The bag that has become a staple in the fashion and the Black community was now theirs and most importantly, at retail price.