Due to the protests over racial injustice and police brutality in the United States, conversations surrounding race relations have not only been occurring in America but on a global scale with different international cities also marching in solidarity. In Canada, one fashion designer is using the momentum to spotlight Black designers in his country that often don’t receive the praise they deserve.
George Sully has made a name for himself in the Canadian fashion world as a famous shoe designer and the
co-founder of Sully Wong, House of Hayla, along with other trendy collaborations with various designers. Visitors can see some of his work in the Toronto Bata Show Museum and in the television show Star Trek: Discovery. In an interview with Fashion Magazine, he shared how he made the transition to fashion from working in the music industry.“I was doing rap and producing songs, then I got into a lot of house and started DJing,” Sully told Fashion Magazine. “After the DJing took off, then I started saying, what’s next? And when I saw Diddy go from music to fashion and make that transition, I thought wow. I can make that transition.”
Now he’s launched a brand new platform dedicated to spotlighting Black Canadian designers called Black Designers of Canada, a unique interactive index of Black designers for consumers to discover. According to Fashion Magazine, Sully was inspired to create the platform because “for far too long the Black community has been marginalized when it comes to fashion and our contribution to it.”
“I wanted to create a platform where we can be found,” said Sully in a press statement “[Because] you didn’t know we ever existed in the first place.”