FASHION: TELFAR'S RADICAL INCLUSIVITY

The maker of the trendy "Bushwick Birkin" went from scrappy outsider to industry darling. Now what?

- ELIZABETH SE GRAN

ON A DREARY FEBRUARY DAY IN NEW York City, the Queens-based fashion designer Telfar Clemens is 3,000 miles away, sitting in a thatched-roof bungalow overlooking a beach in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Escondido. Beside him, his business partner and co-creative director, Babak Radboy, is wearing a faded orange tee and round wire glasses, rolling a cigarette. Clemens himself is shirtless, wearing a gold necklace and black shorts, both emblazoned with his brand's logo, a T encircled by a C.

The pair look cozy together. "My Wikipedia page used to say that Babak and I were a couple, and that we had a son together," Clemens recalls, laughing. (Radboy is actually married to Telfar's stylist, Avena Gallagher, and their 8-year-old son, Malcolm, sits behind him playing a video game.) "I just believe in never working with anyone I don't like."

Telfar and Radboy hopped on a plane to Mexico after shooting their Spring/Summer 2023 collection for a weeklong escape from the frenetic pace of their past couple years. Telfar's logo-embossed tote bags, priced between $150 and $258, were the most-searched accessory of the pandemic, according to shopping app Lyst. They've been spotted on everyone from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Megan Thee Stallion; Beyoncé gave them a shout-out on her 2022 album, Renaissance, saying that she'd put her Hermès Birkin in storage in favor of a Telfar status bag.