red telfar shopping bag purse — telfar shopping bag

A Uniform, a Kinship, an Instantly Recognizable Fashion Statement

That is the Telfar bag, a vegan leather bag lined in twill and made famous when worn by Beyoncé. Sometimes called a “Bushwick Birkin”, between the launch of the brand in 2005 and the height of its mass appeal in 2020, the Telfar tote bag is far more than an accessory.

Designer Telfar Clemens, who is openly queer, started the unisex brand while a student at Pace College in Manhattan. Vegan, limited, and totally functional, the Telfar bag, in any of the three sizes that each color is released in, is decidedly not for you, it’s for everyone. That everyone has ranged from models like Bella Hadid, photographed wearing a Telfar as part of her off-duty look, to Sonja Morgan in season 12 of Real Housewives of New York, to British-Nigerian pop singer Oyinda and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Having an “It” bag made of vegan leather makes it an offshoot of sorts, but the choice in material and limited stock means that the bag everyone wants is one that is both ethically and sparingly produced.

When a two season collaboration with the GAP was unceremoniously cancelled after the announcement of a 10 year (yet to materialize) Yeezy collaboration, Telfar supporters made enough noise online that the GAP took notice.

After a public pushback over the retailer’s treatment of the brand, it was not long before the New York Times was reporting that the GAP had taken immediate steps to resolve this matter. Telfar Clemmons was reimbursed for his work in full, and the lapse in communication was blamed on a lack of open dialogue between teams in a time when the GAP was furloughing employees and closing stores nationwide.

In 2017, Telfar and his business partner and creative director Babak Radboy designed uniforms for employees at 400 White Castle franchises, later releasing a capsule collection in collaboration with the burger chain. All proceeds from the project were donated to help with bail funds for incarcerated teens at Rikers Island.
In 2020, Clemens won the CFDA award for American Accessories Designer of the Year and in 2021, the Liberian American designer launched a collaboration with UGG. That same year he designed the uniforms for the Liberian team for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

Telfar bag drops are still sparse and selling out within the hour. A "corned beef" pink colored iteration was the latest release and sold out in minutes. Luckily the Bag Security Program, announced in October 2021, is a once a year chance to preorder the Telfar bag of your choice.

Thinking of getting one for yourself? Sign up for the email list on the Telfar website now. The latest colors and occasional collaborations are listed on the website as “Coming Soon”. The only way to know for sure when “soon” will be is to look out for email announcements and Instagram posts that usually happen within days of the release.