Nordstrom taps Black-owned brands for Black History Month

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Jan 31, 2021

Nordstrom is preparing to celebrate Black-owned brands for February's Black History Month with the launch of a 'New Concepts @ Nordstrom’, as well as the introduction of several new Black-owned brands across its beauty and home categories. 

Named 'Concept 012: Black_Space', the retailer’s latest 'New Concepts @ Nordstrom’ initiative - an immersive shopping experience - was developed, designed and curated by Black voices, and will run across 12 Nordstrom locations nationwide and on nordstrom.com. 

Moreover, Nordstrom is continuing the expansion of its Inclusive Beauty category, originally launched in October 2020, with the introduction of 12 new Black-founded brands this month including Sienna Naturals, 54 Thrones, Rosen, UnSun, Brown Girl Jane, Auda B, London Grant, Spraise, Buttah, Beneath Your Mask, AJ Crimson, and most notably, Uoma. 

Likewise, in the home category, Nordstrom will introduce Goodee, a Black-founded brand by designers and creatives, Byron and Dexter Peart. 

Finally, during the months of February and March, the Nordstrom NYC flagship will also be home to a Center Stage pop-up showcasing Black-owned brands across beauty, clothing, shoes and accessories. 

"We're committed to improving the diversity of the vendors we partner with across all parts of our business," said Teri Bariquit, chief merchandising officer at Nordstrom. 

"We're making strong progress to find and support diverse brands and we are very excited to introduce them to our customers. Most importantly, these brands and the products they offer help us meet the diverse needs of our customers, while continuing to create the inspiration and discovery they expect to find when shopping at Nordstrom."  

Next month, Nordstrom Made will equally introduce a new collection of intimates in an inclusive range of skin tones and sizes. 

The retailer’s latest actions are in line with a series of goals set in August 2020, which included delivering $500 million in retail sales from brands owned by, operated by or designed by Black and/or Latinx individuals. 

Last summer, amidst national Black Lives Matter protests, several fashion and beauty companies raced to launch new programs and initiatives to address systemic racial inequity within their companies. 

At that time, Nordstrom equally committed to increasing Black and Latinx representation among its managers by at least 50 percent, and promised to increase charitable donations to organizations that promote anti-racism to $1M per year for the next five years.