An ongoing collection designed by myself and fellow BIPOC Abercrombie designers, Vol. 28 references that our heritage and our culture doesn't stop at March 1st - we plan to celebrate our blackness for more than one month.

VOL. 28

WHO WE ARE

A mulltiseasonal collection entitled "Vol.28 - Amplifying Black Excellence" was designed by myself under the Abercrombie Mens brand and fellow Abercrombie designers. Together, we collaborated with leads from the Steve Fund, a nonprofit focused on aiding black youth to create a series of collections emphasizing the need to celebrate black history and culture for more than a month.

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At Abercrombie, we empower authenticity and generate opportunities to celebrate Black creators within our BIPOC community. Vol. 28 is our commitment to continuously honor Black culture through ongoing, authentic collections and community partnerships that will benefit generations to come.

- The Vol. 28 Team

TEAM MEMBERS

CO'MEH SHAW

Lead Associate Designer - A&F Kids

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SIERRA ROBINSON

Lead Associate Designer - A&F Mens

JANAE HARMON

Lead Senior Designer - A&F Womens

Working alonside my fellow BIPOC associates within the company, our main goal was to make a difference that carried impact vs creating a small collection of black icons without context. Our history, our truth and nourishing our community to plant seeds for a plentiful future is our ethos.

The Black Experience doesn't stop in February, we are still here past the 28 days.

EQUITY PROJECT

In celebration for Black History Month, we’re donating $250,000 to The Steve Fund. To date, we’ve raised over a million dollars for The Steve Fund—an organization dedicated to supporting the mental health and emotional well‐being of young people of color.

SUMMER 2024

NLB

For the adult collection - inspired by vintage baseball styling and honoring several Negro League Baseball teams. The collection consisted of detailed patchwork and embroideries, and a new twist on the classic baseball stripe.

Since our ethos is "more than month" - we expanded on this in the structure of the collections - creating multiseasonal capsule collections - each focused on celebrating black artists and leaders in varied industries.

With intensive trend forecasting and research, these collections included product across mens, womens and kids product.

Authenticity is important - so we licensed Negro League Baseball patches and embroideries from official teams such as the Baltimore Black Sox, Kansas City Monarchs and Louisville Black Caps.

As we were honoring the Negro League teams through this collection, we acquired the official Negro League team patch and included it with our marketing.

A detailed closeup of the Baltimore Black Sox embroidered patch that was featured throughout the collection.

ASSORTMENT

Cut & Sew

Cotton Baseball Jersey
Cotton Jersey Fleece Sweatshirt
Jersey Tee w/ NLB team print & embroidery
Womens Babydoll Tee w/ embroidery
Womens Cotton Baseball Jersey
Womens Heathered Sports Bra

Bottoms

5" Cotton Jersey Fleece Short

Hopping on the street to prep trend, our first collection took inspiration from the style of Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele's film Nope and a new twist on the baseball jersey. Wanting to expand on texture, we focused on three dimensional patches - licensed from actual Negro League Baseball teams. A new take on classic smart dressing.

HONORING THE NLB

The palette is grounded in neutrals and some hues of brown. The colors sit off of stark black and white outline embroidered detailing to make the collection easy and relaxed.

HANGTAGS

The beauty in the details also inspired our team to create and develop specialized hangtags for the collection. A subtle brown ombre effect to simply explain we come in all colors and shades.

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BASQUIAT

SPRING 23

For the adult collection - Our "Black Artists" collection was inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat - his artistry and his personal style. His artwork served as the main focus of the collection with utilizing multi media techniques such as embroidery and screen printed graphics. The mens collection, designed by myself and the Vol. 28 team, included crisp button ups, embroidered tees and a printed intarsia sweater with Basquiat's artwork, from his "Untitled" series.

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BASQUIAT

SPRING 23

BASQUIAT

SPRING 23

For the adult collection - Our "Black Artists" collection was inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat - his artistry and his personal style. His artwork served as the main focus of the collection with utilizing multi media techniques such as embroidery and screen printed graphics. The mens collection, designed by myself and the Vol. 28 team, included crisp button ups, embroidered tees and a printed intarsia sweater with Basquiat's artwork, from his "Untitled" series.

Focused on washed neutrals and stark whites, this palette is spring forward in pastel tones to mix optimism and grit as the backdrop of the collection.

For our spring 2023 collection, we aimed to honor black artists and painters throughout history and chose the iconic Jean-Michel Basquiat as our mood. Basquiat's essence defied the rules and challenged the masses by always staying true to oneself - a core principal of Vol. 28.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

MENS ASSORTMENT

FULL ASSORTMENT

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Sweaters

9GG Intarsia Cotton Crewneck

Wovens

Double Patch Pocket Traditional Collar Shirt
Twill Double Patch Pocket Resort Collar

Cut & Sew

Cotton Jersey Crewneck w/ screenprint
Jersey Tee w/ Contrast Basquiat embroidery
Womens Babydoll Tank w/ Black Basquiat embroidery
Womens Babydoll Tee w/ exploded Basquiat embroidery

Bottoms

Heavyweight Twill Multi Patch Pocket
Carpenter Denim w/ Med Wash
Womens Twill Cargo w/ Contrast Multi Pockets
Double Pocket Lightweight Twill Ultra Baggy Cargo

DENIM INFLUENCE

The short sleeve denim double pocket shirt was inspired by painters uniform. Easy and effortless, the oversized pockets are a streetwear nod and makes this an elevated classic.

CLASSIC SHIRTING

Researching Basquiat's iconic style inspired the collection to be a mix of street and prep - the first piece designed by myself included a double pocket flap oxford shirt - playing with proportions and silhouette.

FOR JUSTICE, FOR GROWTH

Our goal with this collection is to amplify black voices and celebrating culture through creating products that can remain throughout the year and feel "seasonless." Always connected to our ethos, we've designed these collections to feel timeless and genderless - to be embraced by customers of all genders, sizing and ages.

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Cut & Sew

Unisex Cotton Jersey Tee w/ Embroidery
Unisex Cotton Jersey Crewneck w/ Screenprint
Unisex Cotton Jersey Tee w/ Screenprint

Bottoms

Mid-weight fleece cotton jersey shorts

FULL ASSORTMENT

FOR JUSTICE,
FOR GROWTH

SUMMER 2022

This capsule consisted of collaboration with senior designers in other A&F categories To create a cohesive adult and kids collection we pitched and gathered research while understanding our learnings from previous seasons. The final product consisted of licensing and original graphic designed product to celebrate Black History Month in February 2022.

FULL ASSORTMENT

BTS & EXTRAS

See below for some behind the scenes moments and on product images on friends and family.