Michigan natives turned NYC entrepreneurs LaMicah Hughbanks and Tangela Woodley have upcycled their passion for vintage clothing and the environment into a thriving, self-started fashion brand: Urbn Rewrrk. With their beaters, Bandana-kinis, and custom work, LaMicah and Tangela of Urbn Rewrrk are putting a fresh spin on old pieces.
Tangela and LaMicah quickly hit it off after their first introduction via a mutual friend at a pregame party. “The next day, [our friend] sends me a screenshot of Tangela saying, ‘oh my gosh, that girl LaMicah is so fun,’” LaMicah fondly recalls. The two remained in touch with each other on social media going forward, a coincidental meeting turning into a deep-rooted friendship that resulted in Tangela and LaMicah soon becoming roommates.
Working full-time jobs outside of the fashion industry—LaMicah as a nurse, and Tangela in marketing for L'Oréal—while simultaneously living in a city teeming with creative people, LaMicah and Tangela sought an artistic endeavor the two of them could pursue together.
“I love vintage clothes, I’ve thrifted since high school. I was talking to my friend and she suggested that I write down one thing a day that I was interested in, so I would write down one word, and one would be clothes, and another would be vintage," LaMicah explains.
“We were living in Chinatown when a vintage business first started simmering as an idea,” Tangela added, asking, “What if we got vintage clothes and sold them?”
"So I was like, oh, why don’t I try to rework vintage clothes?” LaMicah answered.
Aside from a sewing class taken in middle school, LaMicah is a self-taught seamstress aided only by Youtube tutorials. LaMicah’s birthday gift to Tangela—a University of Michigan sweatshirt cut and reworked into a two-piece outfit—laid the foundation for Urbn Rewrrk.
Trading her $20 beginner sewing machine from Amazon for a larger, more professional model, LaMicah continued to refine her craft through making reworked vintage pieces.
Combining her marketing tact with LaMicah’s talent for designing, Tangela forged a business plan comprised of photoshoots, mood-boards, and regularly-scheduled content to set Urbn Rewrrk into motion.
“Well, I work in marketing at L’oreal, I’ve been there for 5 years. So, just learning about product development, timelines, launching...it’s just taking some of those things and making it work for our business,” Tangela answers. “Just, honing in on both our strengths to build this thing, which is like our lil' baby. It’s been growing, and we’re finding out new things every day, trying to make things more efficient and streamlined, and throwing out more ideas. Trying to make it make sense. It’s a journey every day, I would say.”
“It’s definitely been a journey,” LaMicah agrees, “I think just, learning to work together, collab with different ideas...we definitely have our strengths in certain parts. Tangela has her strength in the content and everything. It’s been a huge learning experience because I feel like [the medical field] is kinda closed in. It’s like a whole new world.”
The small team of comprised of just the two of them adds a personal touch to the Urbn Rewrrk pieces and collections, even down to the photoshoots which are often conducted on iPhones with their friends posing as models.
“We don’t have the equipment, but we’re making it work and trying to make it look cute, something we’d want to buy and interact with,” Tangela says.
Despite their shared passion, working together as best friends and roommates does come with challenges, especially when fitting Urbn Rewrrk into both of their busy schedules.
“Whew, it ain’t easy,” Tangela laughs.
LaMicah nods with a knowing grin of her own, “Right.”
“But, you know,” Tangela continues, “It’s really rewarding to see things come to life, and seeing how people interact with it. And people always love everything that we create. From the pieces LaMicah's in there cooking up on her sewing machine, to the way it ends up looking on the website, or Instagram. It’s definitely a challenge, and we’re learning each other. We’ve been roommates for, what, two and a half—”
“Yeah!” LaMicah confirms.
“Two and a half years. so you know, that’s a journey on its own. We gotta lot of layers here, and it’s always a learning experience for sure,” Tangela concludes.
The trifecta of being of best friends, roommates, and business partners means LaMicah and Tangela can always find time for each other, whether it’s business-related or otherwise.
“The good thing is, we can be like, cooking dinner and just start talking about our work. So it’s always in the conversation and not overbearing,” LaMicah adds, “I think it’s pretty cool that we can talk about it when we want to, and always know we’re gonna be able to chat about Urbn Rewrrk if we need to.”
Inspiration abounds for the two co-owners, whether it's in their daily lives or social media feeds.
“I’ll just be on Instagram and I’m like, I like this! This looks good! We should do this! I’m just inspired by anything I see,” says Tangela, adding that both her and LaMicah’s inspiration for Urbn Rewrrk often comes from their own senses of fashion as well. “It’s like an extension of our own style and the things that we like to wear. A lot of the things that we continue to launch, we’re like, we’re definitely wearing this, we’re gonna put it on our Instagrams.”
For LaMicah, it's also about streetwear. “I really love streetwear,” she adds. “I have a folder of a million different things, so I try to make it into my own style. I recently got into trying to sketch. I got an iPad, and have a little stylus pen, so I’ve been trying to use inspo, but also switch it around into my own style, my own little design.”
In addition to modern streetwear, Urbn Rewrrk pieces are also influenced by the fashion of the ‘90s, drawing inspiration from stars such as the late R&B singer Aaliyah.
“Definitely, we’re like trapped in the ‘90s, the best decade,” Tangela notes with a nod of agreement from LaMicah.
For Tangela and LaMicah, reworking vintage pieces provides not only a creative outlet with the plus-side of cute, original pieces of clothing but promotes environmental sustainability through bypassing the cycle of production.
“We’ve talked a lot about what upcycling means for sustainability, and I feel like there’s so much awareness that people don’t have right now about how the fast fashion industry really affects the environment,” Tangela answers, referring to the increase in waste, pollution, and CO2 emissions created by the production of mass-produced clothing—also known as fast-fashion—often found in stores.
Tangela adds, “And, it’s like, vintage clothes look better than what you’re buying at Zara anyways. So, you can help the environment and your wardrobe.”
In addition to her enthusiasm toward saving the environment, LaMicah expresses her “mind-blowing” feeling of pride whenever clients enjoy wearing Urbn Rewrrk pieces.
“I always loved clothes but I never thought I would make them. I hope that we can be able to put our stuff into stores, and really gain a lot of clientele to do custom work because I just want to make pieces that people want to wear,” LaMicah states.
With Urbn Rewrrk, the girl bosses hope to upgrade people’s style while inspiring them to be more conscious about where they shop, and to also support small businesses rather than the big corporations creating excess pollution.
“I just want to shout it from the rooftops,” Tangela says.
Though Urbn Rewrrk as a business pursuit involves substantial effort on behalf of both its founders, the ability to indulge in a creative hobby outside of their more structured careers is a welcome responsibility.
“It’s my escape from work, like, whew freedom. I feel more comfortable in the space of creating than I do with my normal job. So, if I could just exit out that’d be great, but maybe one day,” LaMicah answers.
While putting together new pieces offers LaMicah a dose of escapism from the medical field, Tangela finds the transition from her full-time job to Urbn Rewrrk rather seamless.
“It’s interesting because I get off work and continue to do the same things I’m doing for work for Urbn Rewrrk, which is branding, marketing, timelines, product launching, and development. That’s what I continue to do,” Tangela explains. “I love it. It’s exciting. It’s definitely difficult from a time-management standpoint, but in many ways, I love both my job and what I do with Urbn Rewrrk.”
The two business-owners showcase Black representation in their photoshoots and the reworked pieces themselves, like their Black Girl Magic bandana crop top.
“I think that, for me, I just want [the message] to be that people can be creative and you can be stylish in your own way,” LaMicah says, “I think Urbn Rewrrk shows you can create a brand on your own in the Black community, you can support each other in the Black community. I think it also shows a lot of individuality, which is sometimes not promoted a lot in the Black community. So, just being creative, being stylish, doing your own thing, is what I love, and what I want to let other Black girls know. Like, you can look good in these different cool pieces, and feel confident.”
Tangela adds, “I also just feel like there’s so much creativity in the Black community, and these big fashion brands take so much inspiration from Black people. It’s an opportunity for us to showcase creativity within our own community and also to inspire others, like, you can do that too. You can have business acumen, you can learn as you go, you don’t have to go to school to be able to have a successful business. You don’t have to go to school for sewing to be able to pick up a sewing machine and sew.”
Since creating Urbn Rewrrk in 2019, LaMicah and Tangela have felt grateful to be apart of a growing generation of black people starting their own businesses.
“Being creative, showcasing our talent, and showing that we don’t need the structures of systemic racism. We don’t need y’all no more because we’re creating our own foundation over here,” Tangela says.
“Right, building something for ourselves, because back in the day, at least for me, our parents weren’t able to just go like, ‘oh lemme start this brand or something.’ But, now we have the opportunity and space to do it, so let’s do it.” LaMicah affirms.
In addition to reflecting the boundlessness of the Black community, they hope Urbn Rewrrk promotes body positivity and embracing individuality and uniqueness.
Tangela gives voice to these beliefs, stating, “We just want people to stand out, and feel like it’s okay to be who you are, and to wear things that are different than you’d normally wear. Just showcasing your body, whatever your body looks like, feeling confident. We’re all a work of art in our own way, and I think that’s what Urbn Rewrrk is all about.”
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