ILLUSTRATION BY NOLAN PELLETIER
He may have engineered cars in his first career in the automotive industry, but for the past three years Detroit transplant Nigel Agboh, 32, has been steering trends. With a design team that includes University of Cincinnati fashion design students on co-op, Agboh leads the vision for trendsetting ensembles reworked from upholstery fabric, curtains, blankets, and old unworn garments. Using jacquard bedspreads, the company custom tailored a blue-and-white suit for Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes, inspiring a fan on Instagram to comment, “This is why GQ keeps calling.”
Agboh recently took over the former Rad OTR space, still stocking the store’s late 20th century men’s sportswear (band tees, roomy flight plants, and sturdy contemporary labels. (“Hands down, best quality,” Agboh says of Gap’s 1990s garments.) But the space is being transformed to include the luxe upcycled clothing, women’s vintage clothing, and to host events. “I want people to come here not just for product but for the vibe, the experience,” says Agboh. “We are more than a transactional place.” Still, it’s the reworked capsule collections that embody Jet Black’s capabilities and ambition. The couture-quality, quilt-tastic “Living Proof” group, for example, belongs on a star—or in a museum.
Jet Black Vintage, 1212 Main St. Suite B, Over-the-Rhine, @jetblackvtg
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