The culture of streetwear was born in New York, and three designers from Brooklyn are doing their best to keep it that way. Tier is a New York City based chic streetwear brand founded six years ago by three fraternity brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi. Nigeria Ealey, Victor James, and Esaïe Jean-Simon are making waves in the fashion industry. 

Equal part designers and disruptors, Tier and its co-founders are turning their fashion label into a cultural powerhouse. They’ve learned how to break through the noise and create meaningful art through clothing. Educators and Finance managers by trade; Nigeria, Victor, and Esaïe have created a lane of their own which resulted in their brand growing more than 400% in 2020 alone.

Winning the CFDA-and-Vogue-fund award last year, their brand grew at the height of the global pandemic. Their goal is to change the narrative of how the world perceives Black Americans and our culture, and they did just that with their latest collection. When the country was divided due to racial tensions, the Tier team decided to shift the conversation. 

Their latest collection, “Project 3: Joy to the World,” is about celebrating Black Joy, Community, Currency, Beauty and Power. The trio collaborated with Brooklyn-based Haitian artist Pierre Jean-Baptiste of P Studios to create a thought-provoking yet beautiful collection. The line consists of knitted sweaters, sweatpants, jackets, and dresses. An image that spoke to me, in particular, is a person hugging an open fire hydrant. Growing up in New York without a pool, running through the open hydrant during the summer with friends was a way of life. We created joy with anything around us.  

BET spoke with Nigeria, Esaïe, and Victor about their latest collection: 

BET: How did you guys come up with the name Tier and what does it mean?

Nigeria: Tier was founded in December 2014. We started it based on our love for art and fashion and our need to tell our own stories. The word Tier stems from the word upper Tier, which means higher or greater than. So when we thought about our brand, we wanted something that represented our constant growth and elevation. 

Esaïe: We’re all from Brooklyn. We met in college. And post-college, Nigeria and Victor approached me about starting a brand and getting our minds together to create something that will last a long time and that we could call our own. We would always have meetings about starting a brand, and when it came to fashion, we all saw trends coming before they even happened, so that was even more initiative to create a brand and have the confidence getting into the lane.

BET: How do you guys position yourselves to be different in the streetwear market since it is oversaturated?

Nigeria: Like you said, everyone has sweat suits, but we just really put the time and effort into the structure of the ‘fit. The details, the fine points, the cut. We put a lot of thought into the material that we use for our pieces.

BET: You guys partnered with Pierre Jean-Baptiste for your latest collection. Every piece tells a story, so how did you guys develop a concept, or did you give him free rein to create?

Victor: We've been a fan of his art since day one. Even before he created his own style, we've done two previous collaborations with him before project 3. We're all frat brothers as well, and we're all on the uptick together, so it made sense to work with him. We're all about building community and the people around us. So when we see greatness in people, we grab their arms and bring them up with us. He is really great to work with because, with all of us, there are no egos involved. Pierre is really open-minded and would even start an entire painting over if he had to. We were all aligned with the idea, and that's how the collection came together.

Nigeria: When I initially reached out to him during the pandemic after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, everyone was angry and had so much pain and was frustrated about everything around us. So I originally wanted to do a collection around this. But the more I sat and thought to myself, I said, do I really want to incite more anger and more hurt and do a project that may add to our current trauma? Then the conversation turned into let's do this project to uplift our people. And let's celebrate our contributions, Black beauty, Black currency. Let's celebrate our greatness. That's how we came up with the idea.

BET: What is your favorite piece in the collection?

Victor: I love the Johnny Pump joggers. I’ve been wearing them all week. 

Nigeria: I love the Johnny Pump Joggers. But I honestly love everything in this collection because they all mean something different. We have specific topics and touchpoints that we wanted to touch on in the collection, and we told P the vision, and he created it.

BET: How do you guys channel your style into the collections you create?

Esaïe: We actually look at what pieces we see ourselves wearing on a day-to-day basis or even for a different occasion. Because now we have items that are not just cozy everyday wear. We have denim, dresses, and pieces that are good for going out. I have a style that includes many different elements, cool sneakers, and Tier items that we generate ourselves. So, when it comes to getting dressed in the morning, you think about how you feel, how the weather is, and what we consider when coming up to releasing items. 

Victor: I'm a sneakerhead. So, I think naturally, a lot of people before we even started Tier respected our style. So that was kind of like reassurance for them that when we started making clothes, people thought, "I'm going to respect what these guys are going to do because I respect how they dress." So we design silhouettes, we think about how we dress and what most people would like. And also, I've learned that if we like it, 9-out-of-10 people will like it. We have that confidence now, and then we're still also doing our research in the field and making sure that even if it's not something that I might wear, it might be something that Nigeria or Esaïe will wear.

BET:  What made you expand into Women's Wear, and do you consult with women on your team, or do you take a look at what is out there in the market? 

Nigeria: We've been dedicated to growing out a Women's line. I reach out to the women around me for input from my sisters, my girlfriend, and the women on our team. And it comes from doing the research. I'm super big on going back to who our core customer is and doing data research. Data shows us that our supporters are 70% women, so I'm always dedicated to growing that aspect of the brand more. A lot of the inspiration comes from me watching Anime and naturally wanting to make Women's clothing. The women who work on our design team are great at making sure the silhouettes fit the body right and are shaped correctly because those are honestly things that we are still learning as men. We're so grateful to have that insight. 

BET: How are you guys hoping to impact this industry with your legacy as a brand?

Nigeria: I always want people to be inspired and follow their passion. I want them to see that these are people that really, really did it. And when I say did it, I mean, as in terms of independently taught and independently funded. We've gone through all the hurdles and issues and anything that came with it, and we came out on top every single time. You have to make sacrifices until you get what you want out of life. You have to have that mindset. And I want to inspire the next generation of creatives, entrepreneurs, and people who want to get their vision out there. 

Victor: We want people who come from our communities to know that you can take it as far as you want, no matter what. Our motto is art never dies, so even when we're not here anymore. Our legacy will continue to live on. People will see the work we've done, the art we've created, the publications we're in. It's really crazy when I think about it.

Esaïe: Art does inspire, and art is always tied to memories and, that's something that's never going to die no matter where you are in this world. So that's something that we definitely want to pass on and continue to inspire people and encourage them to chase their passion. We also want to continue to educate our peers around us through Artrepreneur Festival and through other incentives that we have in the future. I definitely want to teach our community more about financial literacy and how they can be financially responsible while being a creative and an entrepreneur. So that's something that's going to live on. 

* This article has been edited and condensed for clarity.