From White Castle unisex uniforms to celebrity-adored "Bushwick Birkins," Telfar Clemens is shaking up the fashion world with his all-inclusive approach

From streets of Brooklyn to office desks and NY Fashion Week, Telfar bags are a common sight. The designer's "Bushwick Birkin" tote, priced from under $300, is a nod to the high-priced Hermès Birkin, but with a catch - the designer offers universal appeal, from emerging artists to corporate types.

Clemens, an outspoken proponent of inclusivity, said in a 2018 Gay Times interview, "I value unity so much. My closest friends and people I consider family all come from different backgrounds and identities." His strategy of making designer clothing affordable and gender-neutral has not gone unnoticed - he's collaborated with mainstream brands like Ugg and launched a 24-hour streaming site, TelfarTV, in September.

Clemens has embraced the rejection of exclusion in the luxury fashion industry. In an interview with CNN, he turned down an opportunity to discuss his dynamic pricing strategy, which allows customers to decide the price they're willing to pay for Telfar products.

Clemens, born in Queen's, NY, in 1985 to Liberian parents, grew up in a world of style, brought up in both the States and Africa before returning to the US during the Liberian Civil War. He founded his brand, Telfar, in 2005 while still a student at Pace University in New York. Clemens' designs were always gender-neutral and his introduction of androgynous clothing into the fashion world earned him recognition as a trailblazer in the industry.

Clemens has won numerous fashion awards since 2017, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, and has even dressed Beyoncé's sister Solange for a Guggenheim Museum performance, and outfitted the Liberian Olympic team for the 2020 Games.

But it's his unisex, vegan Telfar tote bag that brought his brand to the masses, boasting several colors and sizes, it's worn at home, in the office, and on the runway during NY Fashion Week. The COVID-19 pandemic created a renewed interest in tote bags - new bags sold out within minutes of their online rollout.

"Even my neighbor has one," Adrienne Jones, a fashion design professor at Pratt Institute, told CNN. "You can't be on this planet and not know Telfar."

Clemens has made his bags accessible with his Security Bag program, an all-day purchase fair at Telfar's online store, inviting customers to buy an unlimited number of bags in any size and color, supplanting the traditional market rollouts of Telfar's competitors.

Telfar differs from other luxury brands by setting prices based on demand over time, while others like Chanel limit quantities and sales to preserve exclusivity and ultimately boost their market value. Clemens challenged this paradigm in a 2020 statement, "We do what we want to do... We're not following any rules about pricing."

Clemens returned to New York Fashion Week earlier this year, hosting a giveaway during his show that allowed attendees to gift Telfar totes to people of their choice, as long as they made a heartfelt video explaining why the gift would touch the recipient's life. Laticha Brown, the president of Fashion Business Management at the Technological Institute, said, "It shows that just because Beyoncé mentions you in a song, it doesn't mean you've abandoned the community that built your brand."