Portland-based creative agency Claima is launching products with several big name brands to push forward its mission of highlighting stories and careers of BIPOC creatives.
Claima's new series is called “Claim a Seat,” which will include short films and product collaborations that attempt to connect with creatives of color.
Founders Bimma Williams and BJ Frogozo both come from the creative realm, with Williams working at several large footwear makers and Frogozo coming from music management. Claima is hoping product collaborations with the brands MiiR, 47, Saucony and Clarks along with accompanying short films, can inspire conversations about how Black and Indigenous creatives experience their workplaces.
Additionally, $5 of every product sold will go to Portland nonprofit, All Hands Raised, which works to empower and educate Portland-area students with a focus on racial equity.
"By partnering with Claima and the Claim A Seat campaign, All Hands Raised joins in advancing the stories and narratives of people of color that center on believing and showing faith in the next generation of BIPOC leaders," said the non-profit's CEO, Lavert Robertson. "Their message does great magic to build the strength in young people to achieve whatever they want, even beyond their own imagination."
President of Claima, Purvi Patel, said the inspiration for Claima to get into product creation comes from what they think are lackluster product collaborations that brands have been investing in over the last few years.
“Product collaborations are something that we know gets a lot of excitement in and garners a lot of attention, but we feel like in the last few years it's been pretty lackluster in terms of there's not a lot of storytelling,” Patel said. “And our goal was really, how do we change the narrative? How do we do something different, and how do we create impact?”
For its collaboration with MiiR, Claima launched a travel mug on May 12. For its work with 47, it will launch a Claima-branded hat in June. With Saucony, where Williams and Patel first met as employees, Claima will release a Grid Hurricane shoe in September. And for Clarks it will have a Wallabee Low shoe in November.
Every collaboration also has an accompanying short film that will explore topics such as microaggressions, code switching and more. Patel said Claima chose to work with All Hands Raised because of its dedication to helping people through every stage of life, not just a few years or ages.
“This organization actually truly starts from when they're young kids all the way through to careers, so that's really why we were interested in partnering with them,” Patel said.
Claima started in 2019, and began as a series of podcasts discussing representation of BIPOC people working in creative industries or running their own businesses.
