Remember Kim Kardashian’s mini canvas tote? Yes, the one that featured the words “End Systemic Racism” and had everyone scouring the ‘net for its source? Well, the stylish piece was designed by — drum roll, please! — Jamaican/Chinese NYC-based designer Brandon Blackwood. Not bad for a young man raised by his own account [ Forbes interview Janice Gassam Asare October 29 2020] in a strict Jamaican household where doctor or lawyer were the only praised jobs!

And, though he has been crafting bags through his eponymous line for years, it was the specially designed End Systematic Racism mini tote, also dubbed the ESR tote, that got the Kardashian nod and went viral.

Blackwood, who before the bag’s creation had a pretty impressive online following, crafted the design when he saw the mass protesting of rampant racial injustice unfolding in the United States. Shortly after its creation, the mini bag started popping up all over the Internet as influencers and fashionistas alike, who not only loved its chic aesthetic but also its message, began posting images of their fave ways to rock it.

Now the ESR tote — which was originally produced in a batch of 509 — has sold thousands and recently launched in more colourways. And to take the messaging of the bag even further, proceeds of the purchases have been going towards the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a non-profit organisation with a mission to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law.

Tuesday Style Fashion (TSF) champions the Jamaican-blooded designer with a cause, plus looks at a few more of his equally chic designs.