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Gratitude Chicago is a Black-owned streetwear brand created by two Southsiders and a West Side native. Brothers Nick and Malcolm Fox along with Darick Anderson Jr distinctive designs are meant to remind people to “Be Grateful.” A portion of the brands’ profits is donated to several community causes.
The Chicago-based company’s goal “is to preach the importance and teach the definition of gratitude,” stated Malcolm. Nick added that they are trying “to connect Chicago and the community and essentially Black and brown people in everything that we do.”
Anderson feels like Gratitude Chicago will “be the biggest brand coming out of” the city.” Not just “in the street fashion sense, but the touch,” he added.
The team developed a partnership with Foot Locker and was able to secure $30,000 in scholarship funds for Chicago Public Schools students. They also started a campaign that secured over $17,000 to create a STEM department at Wendell Phillips Academy High School.
The two South Siders and West Side native are members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated — the first international fraternal organization founded on the campus of a historically Black college. The fraternity’s name is derived from the initials of the Greek phrase meaning, “friendship is essential to the soul.”
Being a member of the Omega Psi Phi ” helped us cultivate in terms of how we structure our business and structure how we do things,” explained Anderson. “You grow up with a lot of people but you never really [get] experienced things like this at this level, with your closest friends So us being able [to] do this or just be able to be seen on different platforms together, it’s a blessing.”
“If you think about gratitude, like, people don’t really understand that what you have is enough. You can’t ask for more if you can’t really appreciate what you have now,” said Anderson.
Gratitude Chicago took their love for clothes to ultimately use it as a vehicle to speak to the kids in the community. Anderson had “a shoe plug…Malcolm was a marketing guru [and Nick has] always been kind of a team builder.”
They started their project in 2019 and Gratitude Chicago has grown ever since. Collaborating with others they have managed to boost the community with their streetwear brand.
Gratitude Chicago is a Black-owned streetwear brand that donates a portion of its profits to several community causes. https://t.co/Ye6HvR4gcp
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) July 14, 2022
Written by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
Gratitude Chicago: About
ABC 7: Black-owned streetwear brand funds scholarships for low-income students in Chicago
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.: THE HISTORY OF OMEGA PSI PHI FRATERNITY, INC.
Top and Featured by Diego Delso Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of FunGi_ (Trading)‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
