Black Pound Day is a celebration and initiative to support Black-owned businesses. Here’s our edit of 14 brilliant Black-owned lifestyle brands to get you started.
Updated on 5 February 2021: This month’s Black Pound Day will happen on 6 February. It is a day which supports and celebrates Black-owned businesses.
If you’d like to discover more brilliant Black-owned businesses that you can support, here are some suggestions on where to start…
You may also like
How we can all be better allies in the fight against racism
Original article from 27 June 2020: It can be easy to forget that as consumers we hold power in where and how we spend our money.
It’s often easier to pop into a chain brand to pick up what you need than search out an independent alternative, but by shopping more mindfully we can make a tangible difference to the lives of small business owners and, more than that, use this action to become an anti-racism ally.
Black-owned businesses are more likely to struggle than those with white owners for a plethora of reasons. One of the biggest stumbling blocks is a lack of access to financial support with Black-owned businesses four times less likely to receive bank loans, overdrafts and credit cards to get themselves off the ground. This means that many businesses are almost destined to fail before they’ve started.
You may also like
UK Black-owned independent bookshops to order from online now
These businesses need our support, which is why Swiss, of So Solid Crew fame, is encouraging consumers to get on board with Black Pound Day, a day which is about discovering, celebrating and asking people to put their money behind black-owned businesses.
Galvanised by the positive energy of the Black Lives Matter movement, Swiss dreamt up the initiative to help growth within the UK’s economy by encouraging the public to purchase products or services with local and online Black-owned businesses. It started on 27 June and going forward there will be a Black Pound Day every month, with the next one being on 6 February.
If, like us, you feel inspired to seek out more black-owned businesses you can see our guides to the brilliant Black-owned fashion brands to add to your shopping list, Black-owned skincare brands to keep in your bathroom cabinet and the Black-owned bookshops to order from online and learn more about the stories, history and experiences of black people.
You can also check out Blaqbase, an app founded by entrepreneur Benedicta Banga which provides consumers with a readily available catalogue of high quality, independent businesses by Black women to buy from, thus making it incredibly easy to lend your support. Elsewhere, newly-launched Wakuda is an online marketplace which aims to rival Amazon and Esty and is specifically for Black-owned businesses.
To get you started here’s our lifestyle edit of 14 Black-owned brands, from stationery to candles, to buy something from now.
LIHA Beauty
Liha is a luxury organic skincare brand which uses ingredients and inspiration from the rich botanical life of West Africa, blended with traditional English aromatherapy and folk remedies.
Founders Liha and Abi are lifelong friends and are passionate about creating products which are natural, 100% vegan, cruelty free and free from parabens, SLS and chemicals.
We love the brand’s earthy aesthetic and serene ethos, inspiring customers to embrace slow living and self-care.
The range includes candles, shea butters, soaps and oils but we particularly like the sets which give you a taste of everything and are curated around different themes such as sleep or travel.
Aysha Bell Wellness
Aysha Bell has a breadth of knowledge and experience across yoga, meditation, breathwork, sound healing and Reiki, as well as nutrition and psychotherapy.
Her skill is to help and empower and heal those who come to her classes, but for those who can’t she’s curated a range of gift boxes equipped with tools to help you have your best yoga or meditation practise at home.
bea Skin Care
Bianca Estelle is a Harley Street-trained skin specialist, clinical trainer and director, and the founder of award-winning product line bea Skin Care.
Estelle’s passion lies in fusing cosmeceutical science with everyday skincare to create fully inclusive products which help her customers get healthier, more radiant skin.
Badgal Online
Ashley Hibbert launched Badgal Online back in 2017, a forward-thinking, feminine fashion brand. Hibbert designs all clothing herself and sees her styles as a celebration of curves, hoping to embrace and accentuate them with her ‘figure-hugging’ pieces.
Badgal Online’s mission statement is to represent independent women and to empower them to feel sexy, liberated and confident, which is a message we couldn’t support more.
Cultureville
Cultureville is an African-inspired fashion brand that specialises in hand-crafted clothing and accessories that feature bold African wax prints in contemporary designs.
The brand ethically sources its materials from West Africa, working closely with local tailors, artisans and suppliers with a production base in Nigeria and Ghana, led by a female production team.
A fantastic place to shop occasion wear, stunning dresses like the mermaid style above feel truly special and are pieces you could treasure forever.
pls London
pls London is a new, fully inclusive and affordable extension brand founded by Black female entrepreneur, Rachael Nsofor. From wigs and weaves, to tapes, ponytails and clip ins, pls London offers a huge portfolio of affordable faux and real hair systems for all hair types.
The range is extensive, with prices starting from £15 for a clip in ponytail, while lace front wigs are available in a number of hair types and textures from £49. Remy hair tapes and clips are priced from £90 and are made with medical-grade adhesive tape and can last for up to eight weeks. There are lots of options on offer, it’s also possible to buy hair to take to your own salon.
The Everyday Print Co.
Mezay Ugbo is a Nigerian-Indian artist based in India, who started her career as a fashion illustrator before moving onto handbag maker and eventually, in the wake of the pandemic, full-time artist.
Her work is inspired by fashion, self-love and the struggles and experiences of Black women, using an ‘earth’ palette featuring warm tones like khaki greens, rich browns and burgundy.
Jasmine's Flour
Jasmine’s Flour is an independent, and incredibly Instagrammable, online bakery which sells a glorious selection of cakes which are available for delivery to select London postcodes.
It’s created by Melissa (middle name is Jasmine), who has been passionately baking for years at home and one day decided to make it her full time job.
She started the brand earlier this year and has already built up a delicious-sounding selection of recipes, including chocolate and banana Biscoff bread and apple crumble and salted caramel loaf, available for delivery to select London postcodes.
Even if you’re not based in one of Melissa’s current delivery areas, you can follow her Instagram page and lend your support by liking, commenting and sharing to boost her engagement and reach. Plus, she shares some of her recipes online so you can also try making her delicious creations at home.
Shop apple crumble and salted caramel loaf cake orange at Jasmine’s Flour, £25
The Serenity Box Co
The Serenity Box Co is the brainchild of co-founders, Damien Brome and Michelle Da Silva, and was created as a reaction to their passion to share the finest CBD products from around the world with an audience keen to be educated, explore and enjoy the CBD experience.
If you’re interested in CBD, this beautifully designed box will delivery a range of quality CBD products that aid sleep and physical recovery, improve mood and promote wellbeing and calm, to your door.
The Serenity Starter Box including four to six premium CBD products plus a month’s supply of CBD oil (which is perfect for those new to CBD). While, the Serenity Pro box for CBD enthusiasts contains higher-dosage full sized products, as well as the month’s CBD oil supply.
MYnd Map
After years of feeling purposeless and struggling to find her passion in life, Rosemary threw everything into personal development in a quest to dream big and make those dreams come true. From podcasts to retreats, she worked on creating a routine that helped her become productive and eventually started her own business, MYnd Map.
MYnd Map is a journal with a difference. It aims to encapsulate all the learnings Rosemary took onboard, with different sections for goals regarding finance, travelling and more, to help readers build the life they want.
There’s a few different types to choose from but most work in a 12 week cycle so that your goals don’t feel too far away or overwhelming.
Naked Clay Ceramics
Carla Sealey uses a combination of handbuilding and slip casting to create her beautiful handmade ceramic mugs, bowls, plates and vessels in her studio in Bedfordshire.
Each piece is completely unique and individual, although all follow a similar rustic aesthetic and monochrome colour palette.
She deliberately fires each piece without a glaze so that the feel of the natural, fired clay can be appreciated, as she hopes the “tactile connection can bring an opportunity to pause, breathe and savour a small moment in the hustle and bustle of life.”
Naked Clay ceramics is currently closed for restocking, but check back soon!
Selfmade
Selfmade is the stylish candle brand your shelves have been waiting for.
Selfmade’s candles are eco-friendly, vegan and contain none of the nasties like paraben or paraffin. Plus, each candle is plantable which means you can soak the label in water and plant it within the glass jar with some soil to grow into your own plant. Amazing, huh?
They also look beautiful. Each label bears an illustration and rosy hues, which means it will look great on display.
And, of course, they smell divine, too. The Boujie candle is a fresh mix of orange, ylang-ylang and cedarwood essential oils, all hand poured in London.
Dark Sugars
If you’ve ever wandered down east London’s Brick Lane you might have already been reeled into Dark Sugars, the tempting chocolate shop which displays row after row of rich truffles all over its store.
But Dark Sugars actually started down the road, on a market stall in Spitalfields Market. It was here that Nyanga started her business with just two truffles and continued to grow, exploring South America and West Africa where she spent three years researching cocoa on her family’s farm.
Fresh from her experiences in Ghana and with a passion to bring the culture of West African cocoa production to London, she returned and now has two shops in east London which encourage dancing, tasting and delighting in the joyousness of chocolate.
The Sevenoaks Bookshop
The Sevenoaks Bookshop is a charming space, located in leafy south London. The history of the name dates back to 1948 and since then there’s been four owners, most recently Fleur Sinclair who has been at the helm since 2015.
Fleur’s enthusiasm and warmth is evident from the book shop’s social media presence, as is her interest in both physical and online events, all of which are perfect for any bookworms who want to get involved.
As the website says, the shop is delivering books “anywhere and everywhere!” so this is a brilliant resource to buy your books from home with genres ranging from travel, fiction, food, Black Lives Matter and more. The bookshop is now open, though, so if you’re local pop by and say hello.
Shop Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad at The Sevenoaks Bookshop, £14.99
Images: The Everyday Print Co. / courtesy of brands
Sign up for the latest news and must-read features from Stylist, so you don’t miss out on the conversation.
By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy
Thank you!
You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.