Metavelso by Clandestina, a Cuban Brand, Opens at Westfield World Trade Center
The Cuban urban fashion brand Clandestina has opened its first freestanding retail store, Metavelso, at The Westfield World Trade Center in New York, operated by The Canvas.
“The Canvas is the perfect match for Clandestina. We’ve been working with them for a few years now and each milestone is more exciting and rewarding. We see our partnership as a very organic way of expanding Clandestina in the USA,” said Leire Fernandez, founder and chief executive officer of Clandestina.
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The store features Clandestina’s T-shirts, caps, bags, keychains and other types of streetwear, all marked by the brand’s signature Cuban touch of humor, irony and eclecticism. The collection works with NFT and digital art that is present throughout the 3,500-square-foot space on the ground floor at 185 Greenwich Street.
Prices are $30 for small bags/accessories, $50 for T-shirts, $160 for cargo pants and skirts and $225 for jumpsuits.
“It’s fantastic and good for our community,” said Fernandez, in a telephone interview Monday. She said the brand has followers in New York and Miami (where the brand is part of The Canvas, a multibranded store in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami and Westfield Shops at the Oculus in New York).
Other cities Fernandez is interested in expanding Metavelso are Los Angeles and Seattle.
Idania del Rio, founder and creative director of Clandestina, added that the “Metavelso store is located in a very inspiring and emblematic building. For us and for our community to be in New York is always amazing and joyful, an excuse to celebrate life and fashion.”
As Fernandez explained, “It’s not too common to have a fashion brand in Cuba. Life in Cuba is quite different than the rest of the world. She [del Rio] has a really high sense of humor. Instead of complaining, we created Metavelso, which is a joke about all the difficulties we have — the economic crisis, the political crisis, the budget crisis.”
The store, which is having a soft opening this week, features live Cuban music and showcases the company’s ethical fashion.
According to the brand, Clandestina is the first ethically sourced fashion brand in Cuba. Founded by del Rio and Fernandez in 2015, it has two physical stores in Old Havana and has been marketing its products globally since 2017. That year, Clandestina started exporting items to the U.S. for the first time and began selling through its website, clandestina.co., being the first Cuban brand to market products made in Cuba globally. In 2019, it began to market its products in physical stores in New York and recently opened a new store in the heart of Wynwood in Miami.
Last year, they established a subsidiary, clandestinaglobal.com, to distribute their products in the Basque Country in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Today, they export products designed and manufactured in Cuba to Europe and the U.S.
Devin Gilmartin, founder and CEO of The Canvas, said, “Clandestina and The Canvas have been partnering for years on experiences and activations that bring together our respective communities. The Metavelso store at the Westfield World Trade Center is the newest adventure, one that combines reality and the metaverse in a place where the global perspectives of art and design are cherished and celebrated. To have Cuba’s first independent fashion brand present at the World Trade Center in this format is a testament to the resonance of the Clandestina brand and the strength of global collaboration and community.”
The Canvas is among the largest retail tenants by square feet at the Westfield Shops at The Oculus.
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