Harlem Haberdashery, a famous Harlem Renaissance-inspired apparel store, has collaborated with Vontelle Eyewear to offer a limited, premium eyewear line.
The Chase for Business minority entrepreneurship initiative allows the two Black women-owned firms to collaborate. Entrepreneurs interact with qualified Chase senior business advisers to get funding, knowledge, and resources to establish and sustain their firms.
“Our minority entrepreneurship program was designed to help diverse entrepreneurs and business owners start, grow, and scale their businesses through individualized coaching and access to networking opportunities that foster win-win partnerships with like-minded businesses,” said Joy Butts, vice president, Senior Business Consultant, JPMorgan Chase. “We’re excited to watch Vontelle Eyewear and Harlem Haberdashery grow together.”
At a Chase for Business small business seminar in 2022, Harlem Haberdashery CEO Sharene Wood met Vontélle Eyewear co-founders Tracy Vontélle Green and Nancey Flowers-Harris. They created Harlem-inspired eyeglasses together.
“Vontélle is honored to collaborate with Harlem’s first fashion family, Sharene and Guy Wood, Sr. We love pairing our pattern and textile designs with their style and culture. Tracy Green predicted this limited-edition collection would sell out.
Harlem Haberdashery
Harlem Haberdashery, a Time Out New York-awarded, Racked.com-recommended custom store. Harlem Haberdashery, 5001 FLAVORS’ “retail expression,” opened in 2012 in Central Harlem. The roughly 2,000-square-foot store honors Harlem’s rich history and luminaries with rising designers/brands in Malcolm X’s former house.
Harlem Haberdashery has been honored by former Mayor DeBlasio, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Black Bourbon Society, and Harlem Fashion Week. 5001 FLAVORS & Harlem Haberdashery has been featured in the following media outlets: AM-NY, Associated Press, CBS NY, Ebony.com, Esquire.com, Examiner.com, FashionBombDaily.com, Fashion Manuscript, Fox 5 New York, HuffingtonPost.com,
Mashable.com, MSNBC.com, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, New York Amsterdam News, Racked.com, Skyward – Japan’s Inflight, The New York Times, Tidal, TimeOut New York, US Weekly, Vanity Fair WWD, WNBC-New
Vontélle Eyewear
Vontélle, a premium eyewear firm founded by Black women, uses African Diaspora fabrics and designs on optical frames and sunglasses. We provide sizes for varied faces, prescriptions, bespoke lens colors/tints, and blue light blocker lenses.
Size Matters! Many have worn ill-fitting spectacles for generations. From our study and personal experiences, many optical users have faced the unpleasant line across their noses, cheek indentation, and headaches.
Thus, Vontélle designed comfortable eyewear with broader nose bridges, longer temples for behind the ears, and larger lenses for high cheekbones, plus rich materials, colors, and patterns.
Vontélle is the first Black Women-Owned Eyewear Company to license Nickelodeon Paramount’s SpongeBob, Rugrats, and Baby Shark for a 3-year collection.