Bombas, the direct-to-consumer brand that started eight years ago with socks and has since expanded into apparel, is using its own Black employees as a design resource to create a new collection. The Black Hive Collection, created with Bombas’ Black Hive, a group of Black-identifying employees, will release its first product line today. Led by Kendra Stepp-Davis, senior content producer and co-chair of the Black Hive, the current initiative was “created to evoke the meaning of Black Excellence with vibrant, bold colors that reflect a joyful vision of Black pasts, a celebration of Black presents, and an empowerment of Black futures,” Bombas said.
A second collection will debut later this year.
“The timing is obvious—launching Feb. 1, that’s not an accident, but we’re thinking of this as the beginning of an ongoing campaign,” says Randy Goldberg, co-founder of Bombas. “We’re thinking about how we’re communication with the Black community and what our creative can look like, rather than specifically calling out holidays and remembrances.”
The line includes eight pairs of colorful socks and each pair sold will result in a pair donated to those in need at Black community organizations. To market the line, Bombas has a 360-dgree campaign that includes paid social, email and website ads. Everyone involved with the campaign, in front of and behind the camera, was Black, says Stepp-Davis.
“It was a completely Black set,” she says, noting photographers, makeup artists, hairdressers and assistants. “We leaned into this idea that we wanted to be holistically and authentically Black in every sense of the word.”
Islam said Bombas’ decision to highlight its own Black employees in the collection’s creation is smart and lends a realistic voice to the campaign. “It gives voice to those members of the team, those partners, but it also helps to ensure the brand has an authentic voice during this time, which is often part of the risk,” says Islam.
Indeed, many brands have been challenged in this way with campaigns and collections that miss the mark. Last year, Barnes & Noble pulled a Black History Month campaign that replaced book covers of white protagonists with people of color following accusations of “literary blackface.”
The smart move is to take a long-lasting meaningful approach. “The ‘one-offs,’ the ‘28 days we want to talk to Black people’ should not be a thing anymore,” Islam says. “Brands have to understand that yes, February is an opportunity to highlight, to do some more creative things but should be part of a sustained effort.”
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February 01, 2021 at 05:30PM
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Brands try different Black History Month approach amid heightened scrutiny - AdAge.com
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