15 Native-owned brands to support for Indigenous Peoples' Day
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October 11 is widely recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. A holiday meant to honor and bring awareness to Native communities, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a great reminder to support the Native people that live, work and create all over North America.
To celebrate the holiday, we've rounded up 15 Native retailers you can support, from moccasin makers to beauty brands. These creators and curators both celebrate and preserve Indigenous peoples’ long history of creativity and culture—and you can shop them all right now.
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1. TP Mocs
A Blackfoot owned-company working toward alleviating poverty in Native communities, TP Mocs employs Native Americans to handcraft all of its adorable and durable children’s moccasins. A portion of the proceeds from all sales goes to purchasing necessities for underprivileged children living on reservations.
2. B.Yellowtail
A Native-owned fashion brand and retailer, B.Yellowtail is a one-stop shop for interesting and stunning Indigenous style. It offers everything from earrings to jackets and men’s shirts to embroidered tees. We’re personally in love with these porcupine quill earrings, which are trimmed in gold beads and make for an absolutely enchanting accessory.
3. Cheekbone Beauty
An Indigenous-owned beauty brand out of Ontario, Canada, Cheekbone Beauty launched in 2016 and has gained a reputation for creating high-quality, cruelty-free products like eye pencils and liquid lipsticks. With her Anishinaabe roots in mind, founder Jenn Harper even launched a less-waste line of lipsticks in 2020 and is aiming for the brand to go zero-waste by 2023.
4. Bedré Chocolate
An Oklahoma-based chocolatier purchased by the Chickasaw Nation in 2000, Bedré Chocolate is a nationally recognized luxury brand that uses recipes the company says “reflect the time-honored tradition of the Native American peoples who first cultivated this divine delicacy.” The company sells everything from chocolate bars to white chocolate covered Bugles, so one of Bedré’s gift boxes could be a good place to start.
5. Birch Bark Coffee
An Ojibwe owned coffee brand out of Canada that aims to get clean drinking water to every Indigenous home in the country, Birch Bark Coffee sells six different organic, fair-trade coffees, including one decaf option. The company also exclusively sells SPP-certified coffee, meaning it was grown and produced by farmers who are Indigenous descendants.
6. Ginew
A Portland, Oregon, company that advertises itself as “the only Native American-owned denim line,” Ginew uses elements of the owners’ Ojibwe, Oneida and Mohican backgrounds to make casual contemporary clothing with a Native American twist. Ginew uses premium materials in its creations, including Horween Leather, Pendleton wool blanket fabric and Selvedge denim, so it’s not cheap, but you’re paying for quality.
7. SheNative
A Saskatchewan-based lifestyle brand owned and operated by Indigenous women, SheNative specializes in leather bags, accessories and sustainable apparel. Customers love its leather medicine bags, which the company says “are traditionally used by Indigenous peoples to hold sacred spiritual objects, usually worn around the neck to keep close [to] the wearer's heart.”
8. Trickster
Owned by a set of Indigenous siblings, Trickster celebrates Northwest Coast art, and the cultures that created it. The retailer makes everything from branded basketballs and skate decks to Christmas ornaments and cutting boards. If you’re from the Northwest—including Alaska, like the Trickster crew—it’s definitely worth checking this site out. There really is something for everyone.
9. 4Kinship
A trendy blend of upcycled thrift items and Indigenous-made and designed products, 4Kinship is owned and operated by a Diné (Navajo) woman in New Mexico. While the store offers stunning silver, turquoise and other jewelry, it also sells less pricey items, like beautiful hand-painted clay ornaments made by Navajo craftspeople. 4Kinship is currently raising money for the Diné Skate Garden Project, which aims to build a safe and inclusive skatepark for the nearby Navajo community of Toadlena, which has no outdoor sports facilities.
10. Lesley Hampton
Size-inclusive and aimed at decolonizing “euro-centric standards in the fashion industry,” Lesley Hampton is a clothing and accessory brand owned by an Anishinaabe artist, designer and model in Toronto. The line consists of stunning evening wear, but also comfy and casual athleisure, which the company calls “Athluxury.” Some of that “Athluxury” even comes with a Native flair, like a T-shirt dress embroidered with the Anishinaabemowin phrase “Mino Bimaadizwin,” which means “the good life,” or a cropped tee reading “Ceci N’est Pas Une Sauvage,” or “This is not a savage” in French.
11. Thunder Voice Hat Co.
Navajo brim hats have been around for generations but they're getting a new lease on life thanks to the Thunder Voice Hat Company. The company hand-sources vintage hats and materials, reshapes, steams and accessorizes them and then passes them on to a new generation of owners. As the company notes on its site, “Each hat holds stories, purpose, and the hope that you wear it with pride and meaning.” Follow its Instagram to see when new hats drop weekly. They can go quickly, which makes sense, considering how very special and unique each one is.
12. OXDX Clothing
Bold political streetwear and art from a Diné-Navajo artist in Arizona, OXDX says it’s out to “increase awareness of indigenous issues and show the beauty of Native culture.” The company’s work is full of strong messages about place and representation, including a shirt maligning the former mascot of Cleveland’s MLB team.
13. Prados Beauty
A highly regarded cosmetics company owned by a Xicana/Indigenous woman, Prados Beauty has been blowing up on the beauty scene in recent years. It's even about to drop a collection in JC Penney’s stores. The makeup is known for its vibrant colors, something that owner Cece Meadows says is a tribute to her culture. Its 30-pan eyeshadow palette is much beloved and coveted, with every shade from the most neutral beige to the brightest pink.
14. Birchbark Books
A Minneapolis bookstore with an online presence and an incredible collection of books about Indigenous life, culture, history and art, Birchbark Books is owned and run by a mostly Indigenous staff. The store calls itself “a neighborhood bookstore, and also an international presence,” and notes that it has had visitors from “every U.S. reservation and Canadian reserve.” If you’re looking to get schooled on Indigenous history, a good place to start seems like Roxanne Dunbar’s *An Indigenous Peoples’ History Of The United States,” which is the first comprehensive history of the U.S. told from the Indigenous perspective.
15. 8th Generation
A Seattle-based lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, 8th Generation partners with Native artists around the country to create beautiful wool blankets. The purpose, the company says, is to “boldly [reclaim] control over the market for products featuring Native art and the stories that go with them.” While the blankets are the marquee item—and rightfully so—the company also sells socks, beach towels and jewelry inspired by the designs.
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This article originally appeared on Reviewed: 15 Native-owned brands to support for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2021
