Urban Outfitters Tapped HBCU Students to Design HBCU Collection

Chicago — A North Carolina A&T student helped design a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) collection for Urban Outfitters. 

U’lia Harvgrove, a junior at NC A&T who is double majoring in fashion merchandising and design and supply chain management, helped design sweatpants, sweatshirts, tote bags, varsity jackets and playing cards that represented her school, according to WXII 12 News. 

Jalen Bradford, Jasmine Logan and Dacia Redmond of Clark Atlanta University and Janae Claxton of Howard University were also on the design team.

The UO Summer Class of 2021 HBCU Capsule Collection launched on Dec. 13.

Harvgrove told WXII 12 News that she has dreams to create her own fashion brand. She also told the news outlet about the importance of representation in the fashion world.

"Wherever I go, I try to make sure representation is brought to light in everything I do," she said. "So being able to work in a space well at Urban Outfitters, where you wouldn't necessarily see a lot of representation, it felt pretty amazing to bring in these five students from HBCUs who were all Black, women and men, and to be able to work in a space that you wouldn't usually see us working in. So, it felt pretty amazing to increase the representation."

Beyond helping give her experience in achieving her goals, she hopes the clothing line will educate people about HBCUs and inspire students and alumni to take pride in their experience.

"As an HBCU student, sometimes people do look down on HBCU universities, so when HBCU students wear this apparel, or even alumni or parents or associates, I want you to feel proud. Feel proud you go to an HBCU and you have this knowledge, and you have this culture that other people may not be able to experience," she is quoted as saying.