July 6, 2023
Harlem Haberdashery and Vontelle Eyewear Launch Stylish Frames Made For Melanated Faces
If you’re looking for some stylish and trendy eyewear this summer, keep your eyes on Harlem Haberdashery and Vontélle Eyewear.
The Black-owned eyewear brands have collaborated to create glasses for Black people and others whose faces don’t fit European brands, the Amsterdam News reports. After meeting at a Chase Entrepreneurship program, the two brands realized they complemented each other well.
The creative project was launched June 22, 2023—Juneteenth week—at their Harlem-based boutique.
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The partnership offers six new frames with vibrant colors that cater to people of melanin creation. The frames are named after historic elements of the beloved neighborhood of Harlem. For example, there is pink tortoise, “Sugar Hill” red and “Lenox Avenue” green.
Haberdashery’s president and CEO Sharene Woods said the collaboration perfectly reflects both companies’ capabilities. “I loved everything about their design,” Woods said.
Vontélle founders Nancey Flowers-Harris and Tracy Vontélle Green admire Woods’ and Haberdashery’s keen eye for detail. “Harlem Haberdashery are already the gurus of what they do,” Green said. “Woods really has a strict understanding of details—when this came out, it was fate.”
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Some New York icons—including rapper Fat Joe, who looks good in the Lenox Avenue Pink frames—have already been seen sporting the eyewear.
The work shows the efforts by JPMorgan Chase to promote Black-owned businesses.
“This collaboration between Vontélle Eyewear and Harlem Haberdashery brings together the style, uniqueness, and creativity of two innovative brands and we’re looking forward to watching them grow together,” JPMorgan Chase’s vice president, senior business consultant, Joy Butts told Harlem World Magazine. “Our minority entrepreneurship program was designed to help diverse entrepreneurs and business owners start, grow, and scale their businesses through individualized coaching and access to networking opportunities that foster win-win partnerships with like-minded businesses.”