Sustainable is the new black.
That's what Kimberly McGlonn is proving through her fast-selling clothing line made entirely from sustainable fabrics sourced within a 20 mile radius of Philadelphia. McGlonn is the CEO & founder of Grant Blvd, a socially conscious apparel brand committed to supporting currently and formerly incarcerated people.
Within 48 hours of dropping its latest collection on Juneteenth, Grant Blvd sold out about 65% of the inventory.
McGlonn was named the UPS Store's "ultimate small business owner" last month in its Small Biz Challenge, winning $25,000 and an upcoming editorial feature in Inc. Magazine. The virtual challenge event aimed to recognize small business owners amid the hardships of the Covid-19 pandemic. McGlonn was one of five finalists selected from 2,000 entries nationwide to compete for the prize by demonstrating sound problem-solving abilities and business acumen.
What does McGlonn plan to do with the $25,000?
"The major thing," she said, "is just supporting the team and making sure that we have what we need internally to keep going to survive."
It has not been an easy journey for Grant Blvd.
Throughout the pandemic, the apparel brand relied on funding from the Philadelphia Covid-19 Small Business Relief Fund, Pennsylvania 30 Day Fund, and Beyoncé Knowles' BeyGood Foundation to survive. The pandemic also delayed the opening of Grant Blvd's West Philadelphia store from March 2020 to July 2020.
Now with additional funding, the brand is equipped to drop a new collection in early October that will focus on outerwear and cool weather apparel. Customers can expect to see men's apparel in the near future, as McGlonn hopes to bring more men into conversations about systemic change and sustainability.
"There'll be some things that are central to what we do, so there will definitely be some remixing – taking garments that already exist and telling a new story with them that's aligned to what we think is exciting for this next fall/winter season," McGlonn said.
She also noted that the feature in Inc. Magazine will be a great opportunity to not only share the lessons she has learned building a business from the ground up but also to spread awareness on causes that are essential to Grant Blvd's mission.
"We want people to recognize that sustainability is a conversation being led by women of color. We're figuring out how to make conversations about sustainability ever more inclusive and using that as a platform for elevating the need to think about inclusive hiring and fair wage employment," McGlonn said.
McGlonn started Grant Blvd in 2017 after watching "13th," Ava DuVernay's Netflix documentary on racial disparities in the U.S. mass incarceration system. Formerly a high school English teacher – who also has a Ph.D. in Secondary Education from Louisiana State University – McGlonn said her outlook and teachings on mass incarceration completely changed after watching the film.
She began volunteering at Books Through Bars, a West Philadelphia nonprofit that distributes books to incarcerated people, but decided she wanted to help in another way that utilized her talents more actively.
"I thought that maybe fashion could be the way, because what I ultimately wanted to do was create jobs. I started studying the fashion industry and saw how horrible it was on the planet," McGlonn said. "I decided that I didn't want to solve one problem by compounding another. At the time, sustainable fashion was something people really weren't talking about just yet. It was an emerging space in the fashion industry, and I thought it had the potential to be an intersectional solution."
Thus Grant Blvd, named after the Milwaukee street where McGlonn grew up, was born.
Defined by classic styles that have a contemporary edge, the apparel brand currently employs seven people. Just five employees are responsible for cutting and sewing their products, and they do it all in a studio in Northern Liberties.
Though the brand has not yet hired a formerly incarcerated employee, McGlonn hopes to do so in the future. At the beginning of 2021, Grant Blvd finished its first training cohort to teach women who had been involved in the criminal system how to sew. The pandemic has unfortunately prevented additional trainings from occurring.
In the meantime, Grant Blvd continues to work with mass incarceration-focused nonprofits including Books Through Bars – for every garment purchased, Grant Blvd donates a book to the organization – the Youth Sentencing and Reentry program, and Philly Bailout.
Within the next five years, McGlonn hopes to double the size of her team and make Grant Blvd's mission and products reach a larger audience globally.
"We want to expand and at least double our team to open us up to a new market. We want to negotiate scaling in ways that fulfill our commitment to centering the needs of the planet and ethical treatment of folks across the world."
