It’s been an intense few months for Amira Rasool, the founder and CEO of The Folklore, a multi-brand retailer that carries and distributes Black-owned and Africa-based fashion brands. The fashion-writer-turned-entrepreneur has seen lows — from the pandemic, which, as with most retail businesses, caused sales to slow down — and record highs — resulting from Blackout Tuesday, which brought in sales higher than any from before COVID-19 — since 2020 began. She also experienced a highly publicized controversy after Taylor Swift’s Folklore merch bore a logo that looked similar to that of Rasool’s. (Following this, Swift apologized to Rasool, made a donation to the Black In Fashion Council, and changed the logo.) But for Rasool, who’s spent the last three years building her company from scratch, ups and downs are the norm. So rather than focusing on what’s outside of her control, she prefers to instead keep the attention on what’s important: The Folklore’s curated collection of “innovative” and “high level” designers and her own work as a Black woman whose choice to take an alternative path in the industry has led to unmatched success.
Amira Rasool On What’s Next For The Folklore in 2020
