We interview the Model Jordan Brooks, who after catching the eye of the fashion world, after appearing on LOVE Magazine.
Already one of the industry’s top new faces, Jordan admits that he hasn’t yet become used to working with high-end brands that offered him exposure to a certain caliber of design and craftsmanship that wasn’t immediately available to him in his personal life. “I’ve always had an appreciation for shoes and as a model, I had the opportunity to work with all of these fashion houses and brands, so I developed my own personal taste,” he recalls. “The problem I’ve always had was that I was accustomed to all these high-end shoes, but they were very expensive at the time. When I started modeling, I couldn’t afford them and when I wanted to buy anything, it was really mass-market. There was literally nothing in between at that time.”
Two years later, Jordan, who studied business before being scouted to model, dedicated to his Instagram and becoming a Travel Influencer, and trying his hand at acting which he claims is his ‘ultimate goal’. Over the course of the last two years, he has established himself with his sophisticated and timeless designs, and this month he is set to launch an exclusive collaboration with the storied heritage brand Allen Edmonds, a capsule of several offerings that reimagine its history and tradition from a contemporary, global perspective. “Allen Edmonds, to be very honest with you, is one of the brands that I researched from the beginning,” Brooks says. “It’s a 100-year-old company, they’ve been around for years, and I remember always researching them. They do really great shoes, very well-done stuff, so that was the point of departure for us: How do you take these well-made shoes and update them in a way that mirrors my storytelling, who I am, and my heritage?”
Beyond their shared dedication to craftsmanship and quality, Jordan says the two companies aligned on their larger goals as well. After what he describes as years of informal discussions that never quite fell into place, he explains that this collaboration was born last summer with a focus on effecting change in the wake of the movement for racial justice that swept the world after the police murder of George Floyd. “Armando Cabral does not only want to take from our customers, but we want to be a brand that customers want to participate in,” he adds, “so it was important to have this charitable component.” In a personal touch reflecting both his roots in Guinea-Bissau and his many years in the United States, all proceeds from the moto boots in the collection will be split evenly between organizations in Africa and America. “I have two causes that are important to me, one of which is every year I support children’s education in Africa, in my home country,” he elaborates, “and I felt like it was important, particularly because I also live in New York, I lived in America.
