Meet Evan Fried & Mapate Diop | Co-Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evan Fried & Mapate Diop and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evan Fried & Mapate Diop, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor in our success is more products that allow people to feel like the most true reflection of themselves, no matter what space they enter. One of our earliest customers worked in a predominantly white engineering firm, where everyone wears Hawaiian shirts on Friday. He didn’t feel that was true to his experience and he told us how he would wear his DIOP Top and Air Jordan sneakers to work on Fridays to express himself, even though it was just him doing it. We want everyone to feel they can create their own lane or feel good about the one they’re in, and we continue to build for those people.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Growing up, my Mom would travel to West Africa and buy fabric to bring home, find a tailor and make clothes from. After college, I joined a fellowship program called Venture for America where recent graduates work at startups and emerging businesses. My friend Evan, who’s also a VFA fellow, came up to me at a barbecue and asked where I got the shirt I was wearing from. I was wearing one of these shirts my Mom had gotten made and Evan inquired if there was a way to make it ourselves. That’s as close to an a-ha moment there is but we weren’t sure we had an item we could sell as a product, much less a business. After six months of making prototypes, we launched a crowdfunding campaign after the recommendation of a friend. With the success of the campaign, we left our jobs and moved to Detroit to join a startup accelerator. We launched our first collection on September 20, 2018.

Website: weardiop.com

Instagram: @weardiop

Facebook: facebook.com/weardiop

Image Credits
Panquat Kyesmu Vincent Po