Jam City's black employees group, BE at Jam City, recently brought us together for a special Jam Talk, Culture in Every Stitch. Hosted by Michael Raeford, our Director of Player Experience & Insights, the conversation connected teammates across our global studios with fashion designer and entrepreneur Ashley Walker, founder of Leimert Park Threads, for an inspiring and thoughtful interview.
We honored Black History Month by exploring and celebrating Ashley's successful career and recent projects, and here's what we learned:
Ashley founded Leimert Park Threads to transform cultural history into apparel that educates, empowers, and sparks dialogue. Named after Leimert Park, which is a historic cultural hub in South Central Los Angeles, the brand operates through a social equity lens, using fashion as a vessel to explore race, equality, Afrofuturism, and identity.
From early inspirations in comic books and character design to formative experiences at Howard University and Central Saint Martins in London, Ashley's creative path has always blended narrative and design. What began with inspiration reimagining X-Men uniforms evolved into a lifelong commitment to telling stories through fabric and wearing culture with intention.
One of the most powerful conversations during the Jam Talk centered on Ashley's "Colored Collection." By reclaiming a historically painful term, the collection invites dialogue about race, inequality, and shared identity across communities of color. The impact has resonated across cultures, sparking conversations far beyond fashion as "love letters to the culture."
Ashley's work has reached global audiences in star-studded, yet unexpected ways. Custom pieces have been worn by Beyoncé in her Homecoming documentary and by Steph Curry. A design from the "Colored Collection" was worn by Issa Rae in her hit HBO show, Insecure. Each of these moments came as a surprise to Ashley but demonstrated on a global stage, organic validation of his creative authenticity.
As part of the Los Angeles Public Library's Creators in Residence program, Ashley created the Threads of Los Angeles exhibit, which is a contemporary wearable history exhibition currently touring the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system. As part of the exhibit, Ashley created six original garments interpreting pivotal moments in LA history–from the Zoot Suit Riots in 1943 and Jazz on Central Avenue to the 1992 uprising in South Central. Using archival photography, newspapers, and primary sources from the library, each piece was rooted in deep history and research. One standout garment in the exhibit, titled "Woven Journeys," is a wrap dress constructed from fabrics representing the immigrant stories that shape California's cultural history including Korea, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Guatemala. The dress symbolizes the woven identities that define Los Angeles.
Ashley's work reminds us that creativity can educate, build empathy and live in the details of design. This Black History Month, we believe in the importance of honoring history while investing in future creators to ensure that stories are told authentically, boldly, and with purpose.
Thank you to Ashley Walker for sharing your journey and reminding us that culture isn't just remembered, but also worn, lived, and passed forward.
