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When Roslyn Karamoko founded Détroit Is the New Black a few years back, she wanted to create a space for emerging and underrepresented designers. Now, she’s bringing that vision to Neighborhood Goods.
The company unveiled its Buy Good, Buy Black initiative today, which highlights 10 Black-owned businesses, spanning fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, at its three department stores and online.
- The brands have been curated by Karamoko, who is now Neighborhood Goods’ VP of strategic business development.
“It’s an opportunity to really provide education through the carrying of these brands,” Karamoko told Retail Brew. “It’s looking at Blackness as a full diaspora and how can we use this curation to really educate people on Black culture and how varied and how diverse it is within itself.”
And for the participating businesses, she added, it is a way to reach new customers. (Neighborhood Goods is also hosting events for the brands, like a founder meetup at its New York store this month.)
Looking ahead…The goal is to expand to 20–25 BIPOC-owned brands by the summer, Karamoko noted, and go from there. “We believe in good products, good founding stories,” she said, not “just a trend” or “buying just because it’s Black-owned.”—JS