14 Facts About Telfar Clemens

Telfar Clemens was born on 1985 and is a Liberian-American fashion designer and the founder of the fashion label Telfar.

Telfar Clemens was born in Lefrak City, Queens in 1985 to Liberian parents.

Telfar Clemens's family moved back to Liberia for a short period of time, but then to avoid the Second Liberian Civil War, relocated to Gaithersburg, Maryland.

In 2005, Telfar Clemens was an accounting student at Pace University and a DJ, where he would go downtown at Century 21 to go shopping in women's European brands such as: Yves Saint-Laurent, Maison Margiela and Helmut Lang.

Telfar Clemens later graduated from Pace University in 2008 with a degree in accounting.

In 2014, Telfar Clemens released the first iteration of the Shopping Bag, which would go on to become a major it bag.

In May 2017, Telfar Clemens collaborated with musician Solange Knowles to design the outfits for Knowles and her dancers for "An Ode To", a no-phones-allowed interdisciplinary performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

In September 2017, Telfar Clemens designed uniforms for 400 White Castle franchises.

In October, 2017, Telfar Clemens released a special capsule collection in collaboration with White Castle that year, with all proceeds from the partnership went to bail funds for teenagers imprisoned on Rikers Island.

In February 2019, Telfar Clemens showed his Fall Winter 2019 collection at Irving Plaza in New York City in an exclusive event celebrating black future month, with 1000 guests, a mosh pit for a runway, and live stage music.

In early 2020, Telfar Clemens announced a collaboration with Gap Inc The collection was postponed indefinitely in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shortly after, Telfar Clemens announced a collaboration with UGG to launch in fall 2021.

In September 2020, Telfar Clemens was awarded the Accessories Designer of the Year at the CFDA Awards.

In 2021 Telfar Clemens designed the official uniforms for the Liberian team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.