Telfar

A Queens designer turned a vegan-leather shopping bag into an it bag and kept the price within reach.

Small and new·Global·Founded 2005·Members

At a glance

Founded: 2005 in New York, by the brand's own account, though a Telfar post from 2020 gave 2004.³¹⁰
Founded by: Telfar Clemens, the son of Liberian immigrants, who was studying accounting at Pace University at the time.²¹¹
Home: New York, with a flagship on the corner of Canal Street and Broadway.¹³
Owned by: Independent. In 2020 it said it was 100% self-financed, and its 2025 show notes said it still does not rely on investors.¹⁰⁹
What it sells: Unisex clothing and the vegan-leather Shopping Bag, which NPR said in 2022 made up most of the revenue.¹¹¹
Size: Revenue of $1.9 million in 2019 and $7 million from a single product release by 2023, figures Fast Company reported and AfroTech repeated in 2026.⁶

How it got here

2005

1 of 3

Telfar Clemens starts a unisex label in New York while studying accounting at Pace University.³²

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Sources for what is above

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