This designer is changing the landscape of fashion by empowering artisans and uplifting Black businesses
Aurora James, author of widely acclaimed memoir, Wildflower, Creative Director and Founder of luxury accessories brand Brother Vellies, vice chair member of the CFDA, and founder of the non-profit advocacy organization, Fifteen Percent Pledge, has long worked to make the global economy a more equitable place for historically excluded groups.
In 2021, Aurora became the first Black female designer to receive The CFDA Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert, and was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Aurora was also named one of Glamour’s Women of the Year in 2022.
What does feminism mean to you?
It’s so much more than just generically saying women should have equal rights and break glass ceilings - feminism means respecting women’s diverse experiences and identities while empowering all women to actualize their full rights and potential across the globe.
You are very passionate about sustainability and social justice, which really comes through in your work. Where did that passion begin for you, before you started Brother Vellies?
It’s something that has always been there, it’s intrinsic in my DNA but really through lived experiences. Working in fashion, I constantly see how much time is spent recreating aesthetics without involving the actual artisans, many of whom are women and people of color, who were responsible for originally creating that beauty. That really motivates me to use Brother Vellies as a platform to center artisans.
What did you set out to achieve when you started Brother Vellies? How has that influenced the way the company operates today?
It actually goes back to my childhood. My mom and I would frequently travel to Africa, and those experiences heavily shaped my interest and passion for African history, culture and design.
I wanted to create a brand that celebrates traditional African design practices and techniques, while creating and sustaining artisanal jobs. From my travels across Africa and seeing people who made Vellies, the desert boots that I work with, and then seeing the correlation with designs from Paris or Milan, I knew that the only difference really was that these were from hands of color in countries that we did not associate with being luxury.
I knew with Brother Vellies my goal was to not only lift up groups that have been historically excluded from this industry, but also find ways to benefit their businesses and promote sustainability.
It’s been 4 years since you launched Fifteen Percent Pledge, which calls on retailers to commit 15% of their spend to Black businesses. How has the initiative evolved since you started it, and where do you see it going next?
I can’t help but use this moment in time to reflect on the journey we’ve been on. When I posted our initial call to action on Instagram, I never expected to be where we are today.
We launched the Pledge with the long-term goal of creating a more equitable economy for Black entrepreneurs and business owners. Since then, dozens of major companies have stepped up to support Black businesses, and taken the Pledge to re-evaluate their organizational structures in order to create greater equity for Black business owners.
As a result, we’ve gotten more than 625 Black brands on the shelves of major retailers, and created the potential to shift over $14 billion to Black entrepreneurs and businesses.
And we haven’t done it alone. Our work is very much in partnership with companies that are working to tear down these systemic barriers, and actually create more points of entry for all of their customers.
However, there is still so much work to do. Some of the biggest retailers still haven’t signed on to take the Pledge. By 2030, we want to drive $1.4 trillion of wealth generation by Black entrepreneurs, and increase Black business representation by 14.6%.
Last year, you launched the Parity Collective, an initiative that will help provide venture capital funding to founders of Black-owned businesses. What unique barriers do Black-owned businesses, and Black women specifically, encounter in the venture capital space?
As a Black woman small business owner, I know first hand the barriers that Black entrepreneurs face when starting their own business. Companies led by Black women receive less than 1% of all VC dollars each year. On a day-to-day basis that equates to the Black founder that we all know with incredible products but no access to funding.
In 2022, Black business saw a 45% drop in VC funding, undoing much of the progress that was made in the year before. Not only is it next to impossible to get in the room, but even when we do — most of the time the people in that room don’t try to understand our brand. They can’t connect with our personal story.
Even through all of our work with the Pledge, I knew there was still more to be done. That’s why I launched the Parity Collective with VMG partners, a $850-million fund that will focus on founders of Black-owned businesses. The aim is to really close the racial wealth gap.
When you look back on your career so far, what are you most proud of?
Not sure that I can just pick one. I started Brother Vellies with $3,500 at a New York Flea Market over 10 years ago. So when I take a step back, and reflect on all that it took leading up to that moment - to take a risk and not let the possibility of failure derail me - I’m proud of it all.
