Brandon Blackwood On Surviving 10 Years In Luxury Fashion

To a fan of Brandon Blackwood, his success makes total sense. The New York designer is behind some of fashion’s favorite bags and shoes today, from his oiled leather shoulder bags to his clever boots, custom designs for Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour, and viral “End Systemic Racism” tote (more on that later). But starting out, Blackwood remembers not really knowing what he was doing. “I always feel like that helped because I really wasn’t afraid of anything because I was just so naive,” he says. This year, the accessories brand turns ten, which it celebrated with a drop of blinged-out Swarovski-covered crystal hoodies that quickly sold out. This milestone is major for any business, but especially for one in fashion. And for Blackwood, each year seems to have brought its own adventure.

To start, Blackwood did not begin his career wanting to be a designer at all. He studied neuroscience at Bard College but made a swift pivot, working at Crossroads Trading post-grad as a buyer and making ten dollars an hour. He wanted to be in fashion, but of all itssrc="https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SHOT_02_105-scaled.jpg" alt="Brandon Blackwood On Surviving 10 Years In Luxury Fashion" width="400" height="599" />Nico Daniels Courtesy of Brandon Blackwood

“It just kept growing from there. After work, I would look up every editor, every stylist, and send these mass emails just talking about the brand and trying to push it to anyone. I’d usually never get a response… but once in a while [I would],” he recalls. Blackwood eventually left Crossroads in 2016 to focus on the brand. In his outreach phase, he also pitched himself to luxury subscription boxes, landing in Luxor, for which he’d design custom bags that’d introduce his line to more fans beyond the New York locale.

In 2020, the brand exploded beyond imagination when he created the “End Systemic Racism” (ESR) tote in response to George Floyd’s highly publicized murder and the ensuing movement around racial justice. Blackwood says he DM’d Kim Kardashian one night to see if she would wear it and make the statement, and she replied quickly and wore it soon after. This led to a massive onslaught of customers almost immediately. While this might seem like a designer’s dream, he says it was a “blessing and a curse.” Rather than new attention on his body of work, much of it felt very reductive, solely focusing on that bag and a singular moment. “[The press was] calling me things like activist designer… mind you, this bag was one >website is the last of it.) “For Black designers, I think it’s so easy to be overshadowed by your pro-Black thing,” he adds. In the years since, he has often felt like he’s fighting to remind some folks of how vast his brand and his accomplishments are: being CFDA nominated, creating a custom look for Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour, collaborating with the Jean-Michel Basquiat estate, speaking at the White House at the invitation of Vice President Kamala Harris, and designing an amenity kit for American Airlines, to name only a few. It’s no wonder his brand endures.

Over the remarkable past 10 years, two things have continued to distinguish a Brandon Blackwood piece, be it his classic Kendrick Trunk or sneaker heels: their functionality and affordability. His items are made like love letters to the wearer, with aesthetics at their best and usability made to the max. And despite the luxury brand’s continued growth, prices have not exploded.

“I want to make a brand that my cousins can afford, my friends can afford, the actual people that supported me from day one, that I actually grew up with,” he tells ESSENCE. It’s like how he started: not chasing being the next Celine or super high-end leather goods company, but selling his creations “at a price most people could actually buy, wear, and be proud of.” Balancing his life and the growing brand is no easy feat, but Blackwood does it with grace. 

Below we speak with Brandon Blackwood, who is celebrating 10 years of the brand, where he talks about its early days and its future.

ESSENCE: Brandon Blackwood is so much more than what you wear. There’s community, but obviously it is tied to the tangible: the bags, shoes, coats, clothes with BB studio. When did you feel you weren’t just making these wearables and that you were building a fashion legacy?

Brandon Blackwood: I feel like I was never the person to decide that. Seeing my customer so excited every time someone gets a bag and an unboxing ends up on the internet, seeing people just be so excited. Imagine making something and seeing thousands of people living for it and feeling so happy. That’s when I was like, “oh this is kind of important!”

When you made the site and launched the brand, when did you think, “I can leave this job and dive into the brand?”

I left way too early. After I saved up money and started the brand, it was getting to a point where we were getting articles here and there as well as inclusions, and I posted to my Facebook and my Instagram back then. People I worked with would see it, and I felt a shift. Everyone was being not so nice to me. So I decided one day, I’m leaving. I only had like $2,000 to my name, but I had a rent-stabilized apartment at the time, so I had maybe three months’ rent. I would not advise anyone to do it. Save up a little more before you leave. I think that [the] pressure of trying to survive pushed me. 

I feel like sometimes we might have done something differently because we perceive the choice as being naive, and maybe it was. But also, I feel like these things become an essential part of our journey because of what they teach us the hard way.

For sure. There are so many lessons that I’ve learned. I think hindsight is kind of silly. I’m more knowledgeable now because I went through the sh– and went through the lessons. I feel like if I had not gone through all the stupid things I did and all the things that worked, I would not be as well-rounded now. I’m still learning every day, and I don’t have any regrets, as corny as that sounds. I really don’t regret anything I did, because I learned everything I know now because of that.

You talked about the ESR tote being a blessing and a curse. I think as Black people, whether we’re designing, writing, or doing anything creative, there’s always that chance that you do something speaking out, and then that becomes all you’re known for to a certain group of people.

Yeah, I had to fight very hard to separate myself from that. It kind of messed up a lot of things in terms of becoming all I was known for. I’ve done talks with the Wall Street Journal. I’ve done talks with Forbes. And was just like, “Oh, you’re the Black kid that made the Black bag,” when I’ve dressed Beyoncé and done all these other amazing things.

What can you tell me about tariffs and how they’re impacting your approach as a designer? 

Tariffs suck, but we don’t get hit as hard because our price points aren’t that crazy. Even with the tariff included, our bags had to go up a little bit, but our little bit is $25 or $50, not hundreds. That has really helped us, and it hasn’t been the end of the world. They’re not going to kill the brand, but they do suck, though, don’t get me wrong!

Looking forward to the next decade and more after that, what is your vision for the brand?

I’ve always said I don’t want to die just being a handbag designer. There are many other things I want to design, like furniture. A lot of people don’t know this, but I’ve been really into real estate. I have a lot of things I want to one day give more attention to. I’m building something in Carroll Gardens that’s giving me the joy of those early handbag days. That’s something I just want to keep exploring. 

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