“It’s just kind of a relentless self-belief that I have in myself,” explained Jacques Agbobly, when asked what sets their brand, Agbobly, apart from others.
“I’ve always kind of entered the room with my personality first, and I think that really resonates with people.” The creative is the first recipient of WWD’s Honor award for “One to Watch” and they (Agbobly identifies as non-binary) spoke candidly about the road and work it takes for a young designer to succeed at the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit.
“I don’t really look like a lot of designers that are in the industry today,” they said during a conversation with Alex Badia, WWD style director. “Fashion is a mode to communicate my identity, as well as the identity of people who look like me. And for me, it’s a very personal story, there’s always an element of family in there,” they said.
Agbobly’s silhouettes are meant to take up space, they said. “I want people to understand that you can use fashion [as] a tool to enhance your identity and show up fully as yourself all the time.”
Agbobly is aiming to build a legacy brand in the vein of the large European houses, and “to really kind of put African fashion and African craft on the map and really emphasize the work that’s being done,” they said. “There has been a huge disconnect between what people know African fashion to be and what that community is. And I want to create that bridge.”
“Being an American designer, it is such a wonderful place to live because there’s so much diversity here. There’s not one way to be American, and we are the future in my opinion,” they said.
Agbobly was born in Togo, moved to Chicago as a child and went to school in New York. After graduation in 2020, they launched Black Boy Knits, and recently have evolved the brand name, taking on their surname as a way to re-contextualize and broaden their work.
It’s that sort of thoughtfulness that has put many eyeballs on their brand, which will show its first collection for wholesale — previously pieces were all made one-of-a-kind — at the next New York Fashion Week.
Jacque Agbobly
Katie Jones/WWD
They told the crowd that their work is what speaks for them first, “not because of the fact that I’m queer or Black, but because the work is great. When you look at it, the craftsmanship is there, the reference is there.”
Agbobly is in the market for sponsors for fashion week, or partnerships that could help scale the brand ”long term, for us to create that legacy down the line,” they said.
As with many young designers, the business side of brand ownership came with a learning curve; they are completely self-funded.
“To create anything that’s valid, first, you have the community aspect of it, but once you build that following, to continue to support the brand, it might be important to bring in investment in down the line to be able to further scale and expand globally,” they said. But, “right now, the focus is building that community and developing within the fashion space and having a brand that’s recognized.”