Daily Paper: African Culture meets Streetwear & Football
How three creatives are bringing African designs to the Streets
Daily Paper is a fashion brand that has been taking the industry by storm with its unique blend of Western streetwear and traditional African aesthetics. The brand started as a personal blog in 2008, covering the fashion, music, style and African influences by three friends from Amsterdam, Jefferson Osei, Abderrahmane Trabsini, and Hussein Suleiman and has quickly grown to become a globally recognized name in fashion.
In an interview with Hypebeast in 2020, Abderrahmane said of the brand's early days,
Some people don’t know this, but Daily Paper started as a blog in 2008. We covered new age fashion, events, things like that. To promote the blog, we went to American Apparel and printed our logo on a t-shirt, then sold it to a friend. Slowly people became more interested in our merch than the blog.
The incorporation of African-inspired themes has made the brand stand out in the crowded streetwear market as it created a unique and culturally diverse look that appeals to a wide range of audiences.
The founders' passion for representing and celebrating their African heritage through their clothing is at the core of Daily Paper's mission. In an interview with Highsnobiety, co-founder Jefferson explained,
"We are proud of our heritage and are always looking for ways to incorporate it into our collections."
The brand has been able to build a loyal following and showcases its latest collections and collaborations. These collaborations include brands like Puma, Dutch football (soccer) team Ajax, and Timberland to name a few. This has helped to boost its profile, reach new audiences, and get external validation in the fashion business.
In addition to collaborations, Daily Paper has also used pop-up shops and exclusive drops to create buzz around the brand. The pop-up shops have been held in cities around the world, including Amsterdam, London, and New York. These events allow fans to interact with the brand and purchase exclusive items that are not available anywhere else.
The brand has also helped shed light on social and political issues affecting the African continent. The brand has used its platform to raise awareness about issues such as police brutality and inequality. For example, they released a limited edition t-shirt in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Daily Paper's success has not gone unnoticed in the fashion industry. The brand has been featured in major publications such as Vogue and GQ and has received high-profile celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jay-Z and Stormzy. The brand has also won several awards, including the Best Streetwear Brand award at the Dutch Streetwear Awards in 2019.
Its rise is a testament to the growing demand for culturally diverse and socially conscious brands. In recent years, there has been a shift in the fashion industry towards more inclusive and diverse brands. Consumers are increasingly looking for clothing that represents their cultural heritage and values.
The brand’s success is also a reminder of the power of streetwear as a cultural force. Streetwear is at the forefront of fashion, influencing and shaping the industry for decades. The rise of Daily Paper and other streetwear brands like it is evidence of the genre's continued importance and relevance in the fashion industry.
Let’s take a look at some of its collaborations
Adidas X Daily Paper: exclusive Ajax collection.
Daily Paper X Puma
Daily Paper X Dreamville
Adidas X Daily Paper: exclusive Ajax collection.
Sportswear giant Adidas teamed up with Daily Paper to launch a limited edition collection for the Dutch football team Ajax. The collection includes a range of clothing and footwear, featuring bold African-inspired prints.
The collaboration celebrates the shared values of Adidas, Daily Paper and Ajax, all of which are committed to diversity and inclusivity. The collection includes a range of clothing items such as tracksuits, jerseys, and t-shirts, as well as two footwear silhouettes - the Adidas Campus and the Daily Paper's Kamanda.
The collection was launched with a special event at the Adidas flagship store in Amsterdam, which featured a pop-up shop and live performances by local DJs. The collection was met with great excitement from fans of both brands, with many items selling out within hours of the release.
This collaboration was a great example of how major brands and emerging streetwear labels can create unique and exciting collections that resonate with a wide range of audiences.
This type of brand relationship has become popular in recent times, Palace Skateboards collaborated with Adidas for a Juventus football shirt and another example was Stone Island which recently dropped a full football kit with New Balance.
Let’s take a look at another example.
Daily Paper X Puma
Puma partnered with Daily Paper for a limited edition Fall/Winter 2017 capsule collection inspired by PUMA’s 20-year history of supporting African football. For this, collection, they reinterpreted football kits and apparel with graphics and colour-blocking that reference some of the African national teams — Ghana, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire, all teams that PUMA has sponsored over the years.
Another focus element throughout the collection is the number 20 written in Amharic, a language spoken in Ethiopia. The collection features a range of footwear and apparel like T-shirts and jackets. The three footwear silhouettes are the Tsugi, the Court Platform, and the Basket.
The Daily Paper x Puma collaboration is a great example of how major sportswear brands can partner with emerging streetwear labels to create exciting and culturally diverse collections in the sportswear world.
Daily Paper X Dreamville
More recently, the brand launched a collaboration with American rapper J. Cole’s multi-platinum record label, Dreamville, for a capsule collection. The Daily Paper x Dreamville collaboration will showcase a variety of apparel inspired by the music and values of the record label.
Dreamville is recognized for its emphasis on community and creativity. With a talented roster of artists, including J. Cole, Bas, Ari Lennox, and EarthGang, the record label is expected to influence the collection's design, focusing on empowering and inspiring young creatives.
The collaboration also underscores the increasing influence of streetwear on the music industry. Streetwear brands such as Daily Paper are increasingly becoming important in shaping the style and look of the genre.
Titled ‘Dream Daily,’ the collection is a nod to the rich history of the University of Timbuktu / Sankore and the broader culture of the African continent.
How is the business looking?
In short, incredibly good.
The loyal following they had generated along with the solid products and collaborations prompted serial investor Rodney Lam to join the company as CEO. He bridged the gap to wholesale stockists, including London’s Selfridges, Browns, and Flannels, along with Parisian stores Galeries Lafayette, La Samaritaine, and New York’s Kith. He also helped the brand open the three flagship stores and strengthened its e-commerce site (now 60 per cent of sales). Daily Paper’s revenue rose from €500,000 to €30 million in five years.
What I like about Daily Paper is its authenticity. The apparel brand grew from a blog, this wasn’t a “let’s capitalise on the streetwear industry for the sake of it” situation, they were fans of fashion, and music, and passionate about African culture so much so that they were writing about it, from there the brand was born.
What they’re doing is a refreshing direction for a streetwear brand in a very crowded space. They’re bringing a completely new aesthetic and story to fashion in Europe and North America that helps educate these audiences on African cultures. They have a bright future!
Thanks for reading, David Skilling.
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