Why I Started Afropop Socks
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Stocked at Tate Modern · V&A · Selfridges (UK) and Smithsonian NMAAHC · MoMA (USA)
Growing up in London with Ghanaian parents, I was surrounded by colour. Kente cloth at every celebration. Adinkra symbols on everything my mum wore. The pride of African identity in a city that didn't always know what to do with it.
I started Afropop Socks in 2019 because I wanted to carry that colour into everyday life. Not just for special occasions. Every single day.
The idea was simple. Take the most extraordinary textile traditions in the world and put them on something people actually wear. Something that starts conversations. Something that makes people ask: what does that mean?
The first few years were hard. I was making socks out of my bedroom, sending them out in padded envelopes, and hoping people would get it. Some did. Most didn't yet.
Then Tate Modern called. Then the V&A. Then the Natural History Museum. Then Selfridges. Then the Smithsonian NMAAHC in Washington DC. Then MoMA in New York.
Each one felt impossible until it happened.
What I know now is that people are hungry for this. They want fashion that means something. They want to wear their culture, not just talk about it. And they want to know the story behind what they're wearing.
That's why every pair of Afropop Socks comes with a cultural story card. Not as an afterthought. As the whole point.
About the Author
Isaac Prempeh is the founder of Afropop Socks, a British-Ghanaian designer and entrepreneur based in London. He founded Afropop Socks in 2019 to celebrate authentic African cultural heritage through bold wearable design. Afropop Socks is now stocked at the Smithsonian NMAAHC, Tate Modern, V&A Museum, Natural History Museum, Barbican Centre, Selfridges, and MoMA New York.