Maurice Malone Brings Detroit, and a Designer's Long Road, to the Black Footwear Forum Stage

Maurice Malone, founder of Williamsburg Garment Co., came to the Black Footwear Forum with stories to tell. Speaking with WWD during the forum, he looked back on the store he ran in Detroit, a shop built around the city's hip-hop culture. Eminem came up when he talked about those days. Malone also described the path that took him from that storefront to the label he runs now. Later he joined April Walker on stage, so the forum's audience heard two designers in conversation. One subject he raised was the fight Black designers have had to take on in the fashion business. For an archive that keeps track of who made what, and when, a designer telling his own story in his own words is worth writing down.

With reporting from WWD.