Exclusive: A$AP Ferg Launches a New Line of Socially Conscious Streetwear

刘颖

Before A$AP Ferg had a platinum single, his mom dressed him for school. “I went to public school for junior high, and she’d make me wear a uniform, even though you weren’t required to wear one,” the 28-year-old rapper explains. “I’d bring sneakers in my backpack—I’d be wearing khakis and a white button-down with new Jordans.” Ferg, aka Darold D. Brown Ferguson, Jr., is currently revisiting his scholastic wardrobe due to Traplord x Uniform, a new collaboration between his clothing line and the sustainable, socially conscious label. Available online at Bloomingdale’s today, the limited-edition streetwear capsule is made up of 10 pieces, including a logo tee, hoodie, military shirt, camo jacket, and bucket hat. Full men’s and women’s collections will drop later this summer on Traplord’s and Uniform’s own sites; everything retails for under $200 and benefits children in need.

Founded by Chid Liberty in September 2016, Uniform is ethically produced in Africa, and for each item sold, a school uniform is produced and given to a local child. Earlier this month, Ferg had the opportunity to travel to Liberia with Liberty and meet the women who work in Uniform’s factories. He also spent time with the kids who would receive the new uniforms, as captured by photographer Daniel Arnold in the images above. “These uniforms are really how you decipher the kids in Africa,” Ferg says. “You see a lot of them in the streets because they can’t afford a uniform and therefore can’t go to school.” He adds that “providing them with free uniforms not only enables these kids to get an education, but I think it makes them happy and empowered—I’m a strong believer in dressing the way you want to be.”

There were kids who got up and rapped for Ferg, he recalls, and one girl who said she wanted to be a doctor. Everyone whom he met along the way was impressed with him and his career, but to his happy surprise, they were even more in awe of his mom and extended family, who came with him on the trip: “I was surprised to see how they really embraced them and appreciated the fact that my family supported me—they said, ‘He’s a star because of his family.’” He’s certainly making his family very proud, especially the woman who first taught him how to dress to impress (even when proper attire wasn’t actually required).

With the heartfelt collaboration, new music out in May, and an official creative director title at Uniform, Ferg is making 2017 a year of breaking ground and, perhaps more important, giving back. “The aesthetic of Traplord was built on the fact that I didn’t have anything,” Ferg notes. “I want these kids to know that they are lords and that they can become the highest of the high.”

Below, an exclusive first look at the Traplord x Uniform capsule collection, available at Bloomingdale’s online now.