Free The Youth: The Ghanaian Streetwear Brand That Gives Back
The collective lands in London on its whirlwind tour celebrating 40 years of Nike's Jordan Brand.
Free The Youth in 2025. Image property of Jordan Brand and Free The Youth.
What makes a brand? A name? An ethos? A creative output? Check, check, check. But what makes a movement, a conglomerate even? The creators of Ghana's front-running streetwear label, Free The Youth, would know.
Formed in Tema, Ghana, in 2013 by Jonathan Coffie, Kelly Foli, Maposh Richard Ormano and Shace Winfred Mensah—later joined by Prince Brefo and others—the brand has gained international recognition for its bold designs and unyielding connection to African youth culture. Created initially to empower Ghana's youth, the movement has since delved more concretely into fashion, music and sustainability-focused initiatives.
But don't let the name fool you. Free The Youth co-founder Foli tells The Culture Crypt, "it's for everyone, no matter their age." The name's real inspiration? Standing out. "We were basically the black sheep, as you'd say, in how we'd dress," Coffie reminisces. As teens, when the norm in their neighbourhood was "to go to school, get a permit and get married, we had to break the norm," Coffie says, and from that shared determination, "FTY was born."
Their designs have been worn by a laundry list of stars from Wizkid, Davido, Asake, Tems, Rema, Ayra Starr, Amaarae, Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Stormzy and Jorja Smith, to name a few. But celebrity co-signs aren't a culmination of the work that matters to them.
To extend its impact beyond fashion and into real community impact, FTY also functions as an agency and non-governmental organisation. Its flagship store in Accra—fittingly located on Liberation Road—doubles as an office, studio and workshop space for the city's youth to gather, collaborate or simply hang out. Right now, it's also home to their latest 'HOOD OLYMPICS' drop—a collection inspired by the notoriously vibrant sportswear of Africa's national teams. The star piece? The 'soccer jersey' was sported recently by none other than Ghanaian football legend and former national team captain Abedi Pele.
Yet, here we are in the same time zone, with this visit marking their second time in London, but their first officially as FTY. "This time around, it's less cold," says Coffie, "but it's still cold sha". A long way from home, FTY's recent campaign in partnership with Nike's Jordan Brand pays tribute to where it all started and where it's triumphantly heading. In a short film, a child-made scrap paper plane soars through the streets of Tema—their home town—before touching down in Brixton's iconic Electric Avenue in London.
“FTY’s recent campaign in partnership with Nike’s Jordan Brand pays tribute to where it all started and where it’s triumphantly heading.”
Tema is better known to the rest of the world as the very centre. The Greenwich Meridian—where the longitude is 0 degrees—passes directly through the city, making it the closest landpoint to where the equator and the meridian intersect in the Atlantic Ocean. This positions Tema as near the centre of the Earth on a map. "Tema represents home," says Foli, who brings its geographical symbolism to my attention. This year, he says, like every other year, is about bringing FTY from West Africa to the world, and that's the goal: "to project our talents, our ideas, our vision from the centre of the world, to the whole world".
On top of their work as a pioneering streetwear label, FTY's NGO branch is thriving, creating real opportunities for the next generation. "Our focus is on education and making sure people are led to [the creative pursuits] for the talents they have," Coffie explains. Through workshops and mentorship, they are breaking down barriers to access—offering the creative opportunities they once lacked.
"We always knew we didn't have a lot. That's the mentality you grow up with, you always have to find different ways of making stuff work." The privilege of a space—to experiment, fail and grow—is essential to an artist's development, as is the infrastructure to sustain a creative industry. FTY is building that foundation: "Now it's about creating space. In our store, we have spaces for young creatives to come, but before [in Accra], it wasn't like that." Through direct involvement with FTY's initiatives, some have launched their own clothing brands, others have found roles in artist management, and a few have even secured jobs at the flagship store where it started.
Their sonic expansion is also just beginning, having signed with Atlanta-based record label LVRN, home to Summer Walker, 6lack and Odeal. If their infectious, Amapiano-infused single "HELLO (INDABA)" with Young Stunna & ScoobySteeze or melodic drill sounds in "WHO DAT BOY" featuring Kwesi Arthur is anything to go by, it's set to be a FTY summer, I'm told, with a new tape on the way.
So what would they say if they were ever told to "pick a lane" or "you're doing too much"? The industriousness in their DNA scoffs at this. Ormano keeps it simple: "In Africa, it's never one thing, you just have to go for it all." A sentiment they all hold dear is a quote from Kwame Nkrumah, a revolutionary force in gaining independence for Ghana in 1957—the first country in Africa to do so: "Forward ever, backward never."
“In Africa, it’s never one thing, you just have to go for it all”
As for their plans for 2025, it's sounding more and more like world domination. "We've covered a lot of cities in the world but we still want to cover more, especially our own continent in Africa. This year, we're also going to cover Asia," says Foli. Last year's seven-state US tour saw them take over Art Basel in Miami, where a two-day pop-up was cut short, not by lack of demand but by a huge sellout. "We blocked a major road there, it was so mad," Coffie says.
"We also did a party at a strip club, which was a bit crazy. But it was Miami so we had to do as the Romans do." FTY knows how to throw a party as they're also an annual fixture of Detty December, now heading into their fifth edition. And how was that? "Well… You should've been there. That's all I can say."
Shop Free The Youth's latest collection here.