Spotlight On: Melody Ehsani

In case we’ve not convinced you that us girls are absolutely killing the sneaker scene at the moment, our next instalment in our 'Spotlight On:' series focuses on LA-based Melody Ehsani: notably the only woman to own a store on Fairfax Avenue, the world-famous, Californian streetwear hub.

Having swapped the bar for sneakers, former law student Ehsani took the plunge to quit her studies and follow her heart. Now, Melody Ehsani is one of the most famous and reputable influences in the sneaker and streetwear scene, meaning that an industry that has been predominantly built by men for men is tearing at the seams and slowly becoming a more inclusive space for those who may have felt they didn’t belong before.

When talking of how female sneakerheads have taken over the scene, it’s important to note the phenomenal rise in competition for women-designed and female-exclusive sneakers. Jesse Einhorn, a sneaker economist at StockX, said that for 2020, the demand for women’s sneakers on the reselling site were up more than 100% year on year, as well as the number of females using the site doubling. Compared to four years prior, these women’s-exclusive sneakers sold the same amount every four hours as the whole of the 2016. This proves why influences in the sneaker space, like Melody Ehsani and the women we have featured previously, are so important for reassuring girls that yes, women like sneakers and streetwear too and you’re not alone!

Last year, Ehsani was announced as the first ever creative director for Foot Locker’s Womenswear department. Ehsani was an avid Jordan collector before designing sneakers for the Nike-owned brand, so having her name stamped on the contract from the off shows a step in the right direction for the male-dominated industry. Considering that Foot Locker are one of the leading retailers in the biz, it’s encouraging to know that Ehsani has complete creative control over her role and is encouraged and able to hire other women:

In terms of her personal brand, after dropping out of law school and pursuing the design classes she’d been taking on an evening, Melody started designing sneakers. Not one to back down to a challenge, Ehsani uprooted her life and moved to China to oversee the production of her trainers first-hand. If that’s not passion, we don’t know what is.

However, in doing this she didn’t make any friends. In fact, she has gone so far to say that she lost a lot of friends for pursuing her dreams and following her gut instinct. Ehsani has spoken about the pressures facing her as a young, Iranian-American woman:

Despite the backlash from those close to her and her community, Ehsani carried on doing what she loved, although it was never an easy ride. She trekked back from China with hundreds of pairs of sneakers and started selling on the then-popular social site, MySpace. As if being your own boss isn’t hard enough, three years later she lost an entire collection at the US border to customs. We don’t know about you, but we probably would have sacked it in by now. Not Melody. She powered through to become the successful design icon she is today.

Ehsani’s ME apparel and jewellery collections have been worn by other strong, female icons across a range of scenes. The likes of SZA, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Rihanna have all been spotted sporting the designer’s gear. As well as selling the coolest clothing and designing the sickest Jordans, Ehsani has hosted events at ME Fairfax with none other than Serena Williams around design and spirituality. When asked about the Julie Burns-Walker quote ("If you knew what you had was rare, you would never waste it") that adorns the midsole of her Jordan 1 design, Melody said embodies her belief that,

Ehsani is dedicated to ensuring that people of colour and women are represented at every level, regardless of the subject. In an interview with Teen Vogue, ME was quizzed about where the fashion industry is falling short in their attempt to become more supportive and inclusive of marginalised societies. Responding with clarity, Melody acknowledged that it is essential that “on a really base level, there needs to be people of color and women in the room. That’s the biggest problem: we’re not in the room to begin with. So people are brainstorming and trying to come up with all of these solutions but you can’t do that without us there.”

Ehsani’s second collaboration with the Jordan Brand saw the re-release of the 1998 OG Jordan, which was the first ever women’s silhouette for an AJ. Dressed in black with a red cherry design, Ehsani moved away from the ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach that many women’s-exclusive sneakers take.

However, it was Ehsani’s first Jordan that really made waves. Two year later, the Jordan 1 Mid Fearless still sells for ten times its retail amount on StockX. Einhorn qualified that the ME x Air Jordan 1 is the not only the most-hyped women’s sneaker, but the most-hyped Jordan 1 Mid of all time. He also went so far to say that:

All-in-all, it's safe to say that the law-student-turned-entrepreneur is killin' it. In the face of adversity, Ehsani battled on to follow her dreams and passions, even though she faced many challenges surrounding her upbringing and family, as well as the logistics of running your own design company. We certainly hope another Jordan collaboration is on the horizon!