Telfar Clemens Talks Price Increase & Telfar Bags Selling Out
Telfar Clemens’ namesake genderless brand Telfar has one of the most in-demand luxury handbags in the market. Every time the fashion label drops the new shopping handbag collection, it sells out in minutes leaving fans who were unable to purchase them in time to complain about it on social media.
What makes Telfar bags appealing is their luxury look and feel, which is made of vegan leather and affordable price that ranges from $150-$257. However, the designer’s latest handbag had customers in an uproar due to its price.
can’t lie that telfar circle bag is cute but not paying that price
— tay. 🤍 (@taylorrboatt_) March 10, 2022
In February, during New York Fashion Week, Telfar unveiled the Round Circle Bag that retails at $567. What makes this bag different from the beloved shopping bag is that its signature T logo is a part of the bag’s structure versus it being embossed into the shopping bag. It also comes with a detachable strap so that you have a choice of wearing it as a top handle bag or a crossbody bag. But the clear differences in bags didn’t stop fans from expressing disappointment with the price increase.
I have a telfar but imo the pricing was already a little high for the quality of the bag. I love it but I can’t say I’ll be buying another one
— Aricole | Infrastructure PM (@Aricole16) February 17, 2022
The Liberian designer stopped by The Breakfast Club on Monday and had this to say about the backlash he received.
“If you consider me a designer, luxury brand— there’s designer bags way more expensive than this and nobody’s saying anything about this,” he said.
“Also two, I think people that two, don’t know about the brand and think that I’m raising the price of the regular shopping bag, which I priced that specifically based on what I was making as a DJ at night. Like $120 bucks was what I got for DJing an hour set and I know I could have afforded that if I did three gigs that night or week.”
Telfar also addressed whether or not there was enough supply for the demand since the bags always sell out. “We do make enough bags, but it’s just increasingly more people that want to get a bag and there’s always more people than the bags that we make. We dropped thousands of bags each time that we dropped a bag.”
Later on in the interview, he praised the customers that have supported his vision. “I’m not a regular fashion brand if anything it’s the community that made this brand what it is, it’s really important to nurture that,” he said. “It’s why we have a TV station now. We talk to people all day long. Not me personally, but someone is talking to someone all day long.”
But while there may be new handbags in the future, the Brooklyn native reiterated that the shopping bag price will stay the same
xoNecole asked our Facebook followers if Black-owned businesses unfairly receive more criticism for raising prices or does this much of a hike warrant push back?
One commenter wrote, “Coach, MK, and others have done the same. I bought an MK bag, in October for half the price they’re selling that same bag for now, just a different color. It’s a spring color, so I understand it costing more, but double?? Nah, I’m good.
Saying that to say this, it doesn’t matter the brand (for me) or the color of the person/people behind the brand, a price hike (gouging), is a price hike. And unless it’s reasonable, I’m not buying it!”
Another, “Why should all of his bags stay the same price? He never went up on the shopping bags those stayed the same. (As he said they would) lmao @ people thinking all of LV and Prada bags are real leather.”
Telfar bag secured 💛🥰
— regulation hottie 💕 (@Alexzand3rr) March 14, 2022
One said that Telfar can do as they please, “Well somebody will pay for it. They have a right to increase their prices. These bags are in high demand.”
But some people still think that the price jump is too much. “Why such a big price jump? Maybe the people that really supported them can only afford around $300…now they moved it up to $600. That seems excessive.”
How do you feel about the price increase?
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Release Stress & Restore Harmony In Your Body With Shaking Meditation
When we reflect on our own path as women in light of the women who came before us, it’s easy to see that the loads we’ve carried haven’t always been the lightest. From everyday stresses to generational trauma with roots that are difficult to trace, one must ask where all that weight goes if we never release it.
The body holds the score for all the anxieties, worries, and unease that we’ve endured over time. Family and society often tell us to quiet our emotions, maintain a brave face, and keep our emotions bottled up within. But as we know, anything with too much pressure will eventually burst.
And while we are steadily discovering self-care methods like meditation to shed this emotional baggage, it may take a little more than sitting still in the quiet of our mind to let go of our deep-rooted tension. Fortunately, mindful movement could be an unexpected way for you to let go of worry and anxiety while building emotional resiliency, and such is the case with shaking meditation.
What Is Shaking Meditation?
Shaking meditation is a form of tension and trauma-releasing exercises or TRE that “assists the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma.” This series of exercises of muscular shaking and vibrating activates a natural reflex mechanism that releases muscular tension, thus calming down the nervous system and encouraging your body to return back to a state of balance.
“Shaking meditation can be powerful because it moves your body — and in Eastern medicine, we say that moves your chi,” says Jenelle Kim, DACM, L.Ac, a ninth-generation doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and author of Myung Sung: The Korean Art of Living Meditation.
According to Dr. Kim, understanding chi helps us understand our bodies and how we're feeling mentally, physically, and spiritually. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), chi is known to represent your life force; it is the energy that flows through you and everything, and in many cultures, plays an essential role in our health.
“We have chi that moves in our blood and throughout our entire body; connecting our organ systems, muscles, and joints,” she tells xoNecole. “It allows everything to function and to be nourished. We know blood travels throughout our body through our circulatory system, but chi also travels through our body — much in the same way — through the meridian system. If you picture chi as vital energy, it moves the blood.”
It’s important for our body’s chi to stay in flow. When we go about our daily life with stress, trauma, or even mental injuries, our energy becomes stagnant. But various movement practices like Qigong or shaking meditation encourage your chi to circulate through your body which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which “is in charge of telling our brain and body to calm down, relax, ultimately, let go,” Dr. Kim says.
As Black women, there are times in life when it feels like we bear the weight of the world on our shoulders, with few spaces to go when we need to lighten the load. But as Dr. Kim explains, because women are “naturally yin beings,” we take on more because we can handle more. “According to the energies of nature that have been passed down for thousands of years, women are more complex. And what that almost always means is that we can think a lot more.” And while that speaks to the resiliency of our being, it can have a negative effect on our bodies when we store more than we release.
“If we don't have ways of releasing this, it will ultimately affect our lives physically, mentally, and spiritually. Then it passes on to our children, and that's where we get generational trauma,” she says.
Although shaking meditation may be a new and unfamiliar practice, it’s one that could prove to be beneficial to those who have experienced trauma on an individual and communal level. The movements are simple to follow and accessible, and in a matter of minutes, you’ll feel more calm and relaxed, while relieving any anxiety, frustration, and tension inside of you.
So if you’re ready to restore harmony within your body, here are the steps to perform shaking meditation on your own.
How To Incorporate Shaking Meditation Into Your Daily Routine:
Step 1: “Stand with your feet hip-width apart. You can do this while sitting or standing — depending on your comfort level. Make sure all of your joints are soft, so nothing's locked.
Step 2: “Begin raising onto your tiptoes and falling back onto your heels. Not so hard to where you're shocking your spine, but enough to just kind of wake up your body. Repeat three to five times, dropping down onto your heels.”
Step 3: “Next, start with your hands first and shake them. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Shake them and go up to your arms, to your elbows, and then up to your shoulders. Now your whole arms should be moving.”
Step 4: “Then you can start your legs, repeating the same shaking movement. You then move your feet moving, go up through your core, and then shake everything out through your head.”
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