Sooo, the last drop of the year - the "Melanated Hearts" collection. And probably my most anticipated... mainly by me haha. I don't know what it is, but I usually like to wait until the last minute to show off my next collection. I've heard that you should show as many people as possible early on. This is so that you get good feedback from your target audience. But, I've never really followed the rules. Maybe, I'll get there one day.

If you read my last post about the "Pre-Game Starter Pack" collection, you'll know that I've recently started getting my garments made from scratch, overseas. The trend has continued with Drop '04, and I couldn't be happier with how it was executed.

Let's get into it!

the Product

In this collection,  there are three different pieces: a beanie, long sleeve tee, and a hoodie. All garments were made in China. When I tell you the quality is immaculate, I'm not overexaggerating. You'll see.

Sidenote: I've finally found my main supplier and it's going up!

Beanie

These beanies are thick, with a decent amount of stretch. The color follows a natural colorway. Made out of 70% cotton and 30% wool. It has the coveted "Melanated Heart" logo embroidered directly front and center. The "21Future" icon sits to the side of the beanie, and this graphic is embroidered as well. 

Long-Sleeve

The long-sleeve tees are made of 100% cotton. We went with a brown colorway here. The weight is 250 gsm which amounts to over 7 oz. It's nice and heavy for those that like to measure quality by weight. The tee consists of puff print graphics all over: the "Hearts." graphic on the front, "21Future" icon on the back, and the "Different Shades." graphics on both sleeves. The cherry on top is the the embroidered "Melanated Heart" logo on the back of the tee, that sits right under the "21Future" icon.

Hoodie

Last, but not least, the main event, our hoodie. You'll instantly feel the quality when you touch it. The material is 100% cotton fleece and 380 gsm (about 12 oz). We kept it simple with this one, by going with the highly popular natural colorway. The "21Future" logo sits on the front with brown puff print. And last but not least, the "Melanated Heart" logo sits embroidered on the pocket.

the Idea

The idea for this one came way too easy! I had the colorway picked out probably early August, and I had a name for it and everything. I initially was going to title it the "Cozy Collection" because I knew that the color theme would follow brown and natural and it just fit. I thought I had the graphics figured out and everything, but of course most of that eventually changed.

For those of you that don't know, I went to Indiana University for college. Those 2 1/2 years of my life was some of the most fun years I've had, but more importantly, what I gained from IU the most, was a great group of friends.

Such a good group, that we still stay in touch and take trips together (almost annually), even four years after we've all graduated. Not many people can say that, as most friend groups usually go their separate ways.

For the most part, we all live in different parts of the country, but we stay in touch daily.

How do we do that you ask? Through our sacred group chat.

You guys aren't in it, so you won't understand, but trust me when I say, it goes down in the group chat. I ain't gon say too much, but they know what it is. We played around with our group chat name, but we've eventually landed on "Made and Melanated."

How fitting!

A group of young, black, and educated individuals who are making their way through life the best way we know how!

Fast forward, I find this cool heart design that someone was selling on Instagram. I purchased it and had them switch the colors to the theme of my collection.

Once that happened, it was over. I had the name for my collection, "Melanated Hearts." My friends and our sacred group chat helped to inspire.

Moving on to the pieces I decided to go with. So many people have been waiting on me to drop a hoodie. "Hoodie Szn" 

I had no choice, but to include this piece in my collection. Along with other cozy pieces to keep us warm this Winter. 

I'm still only in year 1 of "21Future", but I truly think this is my best drop to date! The quality is everything and I hope you guys will love it as much as I do. Let's go!

The “Melanated Hearts” collection will release tomorrow, 12/4 at 12 pm central.