Larry Jay

Founded in 2016 by Larry Jafaru Mohammed, Larry Jay is the unisex Ghanaian ready-to-wear and accessories brand that plays tribute to its home country's vintage years. With an emphasis on '70s inspired design, Jafaru draws from his local surroundings of nature, art, and culture to inform his aesthetic, incorporating local fabrics and traditional East and West African references (think boubou-inspired cuts and jute detailing) into urban silhouettes.

Sustainability runs deeper than sourcing. A portion of the brand's textiles begin as fabric waste washed up on Ghana's shores — imported offcuts that Larry Jay works with local tie-dyers to transform into vibrant, one-of-a-kind cloth. Further north, the brand partners with a small community of hand weavers, drawing on vintage weaving techniques passed down through generations to produce its more textured pieces. Both processes feed directly into local employment, tying the brand's design language to the artisans who help build it.

Larry Jay started as a fashion accessories line in 2012, before beginning work on a range of ready-to-wear garments which officially debuted in 2017. Characterized by a clean, minimalist aesthetic, the brand's casual yet refined collections boast a versatile, androgynous appeal, and its offering of pieces like tailored trousers, billowy button-downs, and basket-style bags carries an understated, easy confidence.

In 2020, the brand was one of five Ghanaian designers profiled by Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Accra in a photography series that highlighted his status as "one to watch." For Jafaru, identity is central to the work: "What makes us really stand out as a brand here in Ghana is our ethical and sustainable pieces and production, our unusual and timeless clothes and accessories, and also our gender-fluid nature—which many are not sure how to embrace yet," he tells Not Just A Label.