For sports fans, wearing a jersey is a public display of pride for your favorite team. Mizizi is a streetwear brand that gives Africans a way to display cultural pride. They’re known for jerseys that rep colors of African countries.
Mizizi is celebrating 10 years this Saturday.
Paakow Essandoh founded Mizizi in 2015 while studying at the University of South Florida.
Growing up in Plano, Essandoh was surrounded by a large African community. But the move to Florida pushed him to seek a deeper understanding of his heritage.
“I realized there's so many nuances. There's so much to learn about all these other countries and originally wanted to find a way to build community,” he said.
His first collection of clothing was a series of baseball jerseys in the flag colors of African countries with the largest diasporas in the U.S. and, to Essandoh’s surprise, they sold out within three hours. Encouraged by the response, Essandoh left school, returned to Texas and focused on growing Mizizi. Since then, the brand has been recognized by Forbes and featured in Vogue. Mizizi has partnered with Disney on an official licensed Lion King jersey, Paramount on a Coming to America 2 collection, and created lines for college athletic departments.
“So many people come up to me and tell me stories about how it's helped them reconnect [to] their family or it's helped them introduce them to a new friend or … even just reconnect to their roots and it's kind of amazing,” he said.
Essandoh moved to New York in 2022 because he wanted to meet new people. It was a personal decision rather than a business one given the company’s success in Dallas.
Ten years after the brand's initial launch, Essandoh is returning to North Texas to celebrate Mizizi’s anniversary. The event at BluPrint in downtown Dallas will feature exclusive products, unreleased samples and discontinued vintage jerseys and jackets. Guests will be able to shop to the sounds of the African diaspora with sets from DJ Rocket and DJ Hitlist.
“I want people to feel like it's a family cookout,” Essandoh said. “Like a community party where we're just all coming together, haven't seen each other in a while, and just bonding over a shared experience of being a part of the Mizizi community.”
Essandoh chose to celebrate in Dallas to showcase its cultural depth, something he said is overlooked out of state. Since running Mizizi has helped him embrace his culture, he believes this is the perfect time to celebrate.
“Being able to have a pocket of Africans that are being proud of themselves, and being loud and being able [to] export that creativity helps with even reframing how people perceive Texas and Texas Africans at that.”
Details
Aug. 30 at BluPrint, 2623 Commerce St. Free www.partiful.com
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