Telfar launches a TV channel at NYFW

Black-owned, genderless fashion brand Telfar launched a TV channel and a new duffle bag during New York Fashion Week.

Telfar, founded by Telfar Clemens, held a press conference in lieu of a traditional catwalk this season, to launch two TV channels, Telfar.TV, a 24hr live-linear broadcast and FTV, a channel initiated by and in partnership with the film collective Ummah Chroma and Random Acts Of Flyness director Terence Nance.

Both TV channels are live now and can be downloaded on Apple TV, Roku, and other streaming services.

On the press conference panel taking questions was Clemens, alongside rapper A$AP Ferg, artist Kandis Williams, choreographer and dancer Jonte’ Moaning and Leila Weinraub, the former chief executive of the fashion brand Hood By Air.

Telfar explained that Telfar.TV will “unfold live, alive, in process as process — and to take part in determining how it unfolds”. As the majority of the content will be Public Access, the brand is calling on the public to submit videos to be in with the chance of winning a bag.

Commenting on content, Telfar said in a statement: “We are building an ecology between our business and the freedom of this channel — our goal is to figure out a way to produce shows, movies, and so on, on the same scale as other networks without requiring the artists we work with to renounce the ownership of their ideas.”

In addition, Telfar also unveiled a new bag design, a sleek duffle that will be available in small, medium, and large sizes. It will be available via Telfar.TV via “drips,” with fans only being able to secure a bag when a QR code flashes up on the screen, which will be randomly and without notice.

“A drip is not a drop - a drip is never announced,” explains Telfar. “So if 100 people are watching Telfar.TV, we can drip 100 bags, and 100 percent of them get a bag. The drip is for the real ones. The deep cuts we play for those still rocking w us at 6:00 in the morning.”