Le Club Boujee — a black-owned Toronto streetwear brand merging comfort and luxury

BY SELINA McCALLUM

This streetwear brand doesn’t follow trends, but instead creates timeless pieces for anyone to enjoy and wear for any occasion.

Le Club Boujee was founded in 2019 by Meshia and Dee from Toronto.

They merged their creative designs, skills and extensive knowledge of the fashion industry to construct versatile pieces. Their mission is to produce luxury pieces while unifying sustainability and comfort. Not only are they business partners, but cousins.

“I asked my cousin Dee to jump on board because we do take pride in the clothing that we wear. I wanted to start something that focused on quality clothing, sustainability and comfort, yet also still be affordable” said Meshia.

Meshia takes care of most of the marketing and designs for Le Club Boujee, while Dee focuses on the public relation side of the business, like managing blog posts on the website. They launched their first collection in October of 2019, and although they had a small inventory they sold out.

“At our core, we want to make sure that our brand isn’t causing a negative impact, we try to stay away from things that are trendy and fast fashion. We are looking more to be minimal, and create pieces where they’re classic, polished and refined. You’re able to interchange it. One day you may want to wear t-shirt and sweatpants, but then the other day you want to add a bodysuit with your Le Club Boujee sweatpants,” said Dee.

Currently, Le Club Boujee sells unisex hoodies, crewnecks, t-shirts, and sweatpants in grey, white, off-white, and black. The logo is very subtle in the front on the crewnecks and hoodies, and bold and enlarged at the back in a circle. Some pieces have the font in red, green, blue, white or black. The design is simple yet eye catching and unique.

It is perfect for someone who doesn’t want to stand out too much, but still be noticeable. Their brand also attracts people who are concerned about the environment, as their t-shirts are made of eco-friendly materials.

Meshia explains what luxury streetwear means to her.

“This is something that I grew up on and I resonate with the style in the 90s since I was born in 1990. Luxury streetwear means simplicity but you’re still making a statement. You’re wearing quality pieces that will last a lifetime. It’s just a clean and polished look, yet you’re still making a statement,” said Meshia.

The name of the brand, Le Club Boujee, was named by Meshia.

“My family and friends like to call me bougie, but I like to call myself humbly bougie. That’s where Dee and I connect because her side of the family also says the same thing. But I like to take a little spin to it and say we are humbly bougie, we take pride in the quality of clothing that we wear but at the same time we’re not boastful,” said Meshia.

The business partners and cousins say their relationship has been getting a lot closer since working on the business together.

“So, we’ve always been very close because our families are very tightly knit, but now that we have started a company, we have gone through all the ups and the downs. Like when we did our first pop up shop, and the stress of making sure we had our inventory and ordering all of these accessories so we could set up our booth. You really get to know someone when you spend every single day with them,” Dee laughed.

Dee says that they balance each other out well and both have different strengths where the other one may have weaknesses.

“I suffer from social and general anxiety and my cousin got to see that side of me now. Seeing how hard it is for me to open up and put ourselves out there, and because we are budding brand, that’s the main thing that we have to do so she supports me, and helps make the environment a little more comfortable so I can feel able to express my ideas,” said Dee.

They send each other inspirational quotes or YouTube videos of words of affirmation to help each other start the day right as well.

“I had to put my own fears away and be there for my cousin and say, you know what, I got us, we’re fine,” said Meshia. “Our relationship has gotten really close; I like to call her my best friend.”

The founders of Le Club Boujee were planning to host events this summer before the pandemic interrupted their plans.

“We were going to add some more items to our roster. Unfortunately, COVID put a wrench in that. We wanted to hold a humbly bougie event where we would incorporate yoga, meditation and mindfulness and sell some of our pieces,” said Dee. “When the pandemic occurred, everything just shut down.”

“When the production company stopped producing, we were worried about our business, but I also feel like it was a blessing in disguise because we got the opportunity to build a smaller foundation and started to build a smaller team as well. Even though sales have been affected, we were able to build that smaller foundation within our company,” said Meshia.

Many of Meshia and Dee’s family and friends have been supporting the clothing line.

“I requested my loved one’s honest feedback and what I hear back every time is that the quality of our clothing is topnotch and it’s worth every penny. They become returning customers and they wear our clothes all the time,” said Meshia.

To shop or learn more about Le Club Boujee, visit www.leclubboujee.com