By Antonia DePace By Antonia DePace | November 18, 2021 | People, Style & Beauty,
When I last spoke with local designers Deric “Nyce” Crawley and Muhammad “Homm” Abdul-Basit, they were in the midst of celebrating a big stepping stone for their fashion brand, Jeantrix. What was it, you ask? One of their bold leather jackets had been spotted on Ghanaian singer/songwriter/actor Shatta Wale in Beyoncé’s lyrical film, Black Is King. Since then, their company has grown tremendously with custom orders (one of which was a pair of boots for Lizzo), new collections and—as of November 20—a flagship store at King of Prussia Mall. Here, the designers catch us up on what they’ve been up to, what to expect from the store and exciting projects ahead.
Tell me a bit more about how Jeantrix has evolved as a brand since we last spoke.
Homm: After our pieces were featured in Beyoncé’s video last summer, our company has grown in ways we couldn’t imagine! A lot of people have been ordering items to be customized by us for their loved ones. People are also now recognizing us on the street because of the different interviews that we did after the video feature—it’s been crazy in a good way! We launched an “Art Revolution” collection last fall which promoted the message that “Art is forever.” With that collection, we wanted to show the new generation of children and artists that you can indeed have a successful career as an artist if you simply follow your dreams. After that we took some time off to help re-balance ourselves. Being an entrepreneur can have overwhelming moments, so it’s important for us to take some time off when things are really busy. During that time off we plotted and planned our next moves, like Pinky and the Brain, which brings us to November of 2021 when we’re actually launching our first official store!!
What is your goal with the brand?
Nyce: Our main goal with Jeantrix has always been to make fashion fun again! When we first started our brand, we fell in love with 80s fashion and how fun and unapologetic it was and we always wanted to bring that back any way we can. Having an official Jeantrix store was also a huge goal for us, and now we can scratch that one off the list.
You're opening a new store this Saturday. What can fans expect?
Nyce: Fans can expect what they usually expect from us—eccentric fashion that you can’t find anywhere else. We’ll have hand painted pieces available and pieces that are ready to wear such as cool t-shirts, hoodies and accessories. We’ll be doing hand painted customizations for anyone who would like to get pieces customized for the holiday season. Fans can also expect a DJ and light refreshments, it’s going to be a party that you don’t want to miss!
Since your jackets were featured in Beyonce's Black Is King, what else has happened?
Homm: Last year was definitely a blessing for us. We got the chance to create some customized boots for Lizzo; we worked closely with Dr. Martens footwear and DSW on a contest where their customers were able to win boots designed by us personally. We also did a few customization events with the clothing brand MCM and did three customization events with Neiman Marcus. It’s been a very busy year for us!
What’s next?
Homm: Our main focus this holiday season will be to get the store up and running, but in 2022 we will probably start to host small private events within the store such as paint parties, sip and paint events and networking events. Who knows—we may even put together our first fashion show in five years...stay tuned!
Photography by: Courtesy of Jeantrix