We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Idara Udoh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Idara below.

Idara, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The mission of Black Male Clothing is to instill pride in our people and elevate through fashion and clothing. Positive words about ourselves and teaching our history while doing so.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

What Black Male Clothing provides to our clients is a symbol of Black Power and encouragement to our people. The clothing brand and logo pull from more than just present day America, it pulls Kente inspired designs from the Ashante tribe out of Ghana. It pulls from the revolutionary times in America with the black power movement. It pulls from Black history and liberation dates of other countries that our ancestors come from. It helps unite us as a people by not separating us, no classes, no sexuality, no groups, just black men and black women. The more we separate ourselves into these categories and these sub categories, the weaker we become. Black Male Clothing was built with unity in mind and taking back all the negative connotations on the word black. It being called Black Male Clothing is not a mistake, there is clothing for both men and women, I just want you to remove the thought of extortion in your mind, and replace it with a black man. Remove the native thoughts about black listed, black ball, black market, etc. We as Black people will take back the word “black” and give it positive connotations and make sure our kids, or the next generation will not grow up learning the poison that the colonizers and media has spread about us.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience way before I even started my business because my people are my passion. The positive messages I would post and the positive things I would say about our people help me to build thay audience way before Black Male Clothing even became a thing. Back when I was accepting friend request and connecting with like minded brothas and sistas, I had no idea this would be the audience I would be marketing to. I didn’t even want to get into the clothing business, but when I did, I already had a big fan base.

Not sure if my way of building a social media presence would work for everyone because I just stayed true to myself and what I believe. My brand reflects my beliefs, so those that think like me or have the same passion for our people is my greatest market. Those that want to see me grow so they can show their kids you can start your own business, that you can support your people and stay true and not have to sellout to make money. These are just some of the type people that support me.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Honestly, there were a few times that I gave up, I didn’t believe in the brand, I didn’t believe that people would support. However I knew the ancestors gave me this mission for a reason, I knew I couldn’t give up on it. So knowing myself, I had to push myself in certain ways. For those days that I did believe, I invested money into the company, thousands of dollars, so when I didn’t believe or wanted to give up, I wouldn’t. I had to much money invested in the company and needed to get a return on investment. Thousands became 10’s of thousands and I was at a point of no return. This made me push harder and harder to get the brand off the ground. I have taken on partners that didn’t work out, lost money to vendors that never supplied me with anything, and people flaking on me with empty promises. Since my people are my passion and what I want for them, I can’t give up, I can’t stop. With my kids watching me do this for my people, there’s definitely no way I can stop, because I don’t ever want the lesson to be to give up on your people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackmaleclothing.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackmale.clothing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackmale.clothing/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BLACKMALECLOTH1