From Port-Au-Prince To Harlem: How A Haitian Immigrant Handbag Maker Became A Viral Fashion Phenomenon

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Dec. 23, 2025: In a moment when Haitian immigrants are often discussed through the lens of crisis, deportation, or policy debates, Pierre Laborde, a Harlem-based Haitian born designer, is quietly rewriting that narrative – one handcrafted handbag at a time.

Haitian immigrant bag marker Pierre Laborde whose bags have gone viral featured in NY Times

Laborde, a Haitian immigrant and self-taught luxury bag maker, has become an unlikely viral sensation, drawing long lines, sold-out drops, and social media frenzy for his vividly colored, meticulously crafted handbags. Recently featured by The New York Times, Laborde’s story is not just about fashion – it is about Caribbean creativity, immigrant perseverance, and the power of cultural craft in the diaspora.

A Haitian Creative Journey Rooted In Craft

Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Laborde immigrated to New York shortly after finishing high school, carrying with him a deep love for fashion shaped by Haiti’s tradition of tailoring and personal style. Long before TikTok and viral drops, he was altering fabrics, experimenting with color, and imagining bags that stood apart from mass-produced luxury.

“In Haiti, all my clothes were tailor-made,” Laborde has said, noting that fashion was always personal, expressive, and intentional. That philosophy now defines his handbags — bold, tactile pieces that resist trends and mass replication.

Years Of Quiet Hustle Before The Spotlight

For nearly a decade, Laborde sold his bags at the Grand Bazaar on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, often enduring weeks with few or no sales. He balanced odd jobs, studied fashion design one class at a time at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and turned his Harlem apartment into both workshop and showroom.

There were moments, he admits, when continuing felt impossible.

But persistence – a familiar trait in Caribbean immigrant stories – carried him forward.

A Viral Moment Meets Community Demand

Everything changed when a TikTok video urging viewers to “blow this man’s brand up” circulated late last year. Without major marketing, investors, or fashion-house backing, Laborde’s work found its audience organically. Shoppers began lining up hours early. Drops sold out in minutes. Crowd control systems had to be introduced to keep things orderly.

His bags, now priced between $295 and $1,200, remain handmade, limited, and deeply personal – each reflecting a commitment to craftsmanship rather than scale.

More Than Fashion: A Diaspora Success Story

What makes Laborde’s rise particularly significant is its timing. Haitian immigrants in the U.S. are currently facing heightened scrutiny, the loss of legal protections, and widespread misinformation. Against that backdrop, his success challenges narrow narratives and highlights the economic, cultural, and creative contributions Haitians bring to American life.

His story echoes a broader Caribbean truth: that migration is not merely movement born of hardship, but also a transfer of skill, vision, and cultural capital.

Redefining Luxury Through Caribbean Hands

Laborde’s handbags are not produced in factories or driven by seasonal trends. They are shaped by lived experience, patience, and artistic integrity – values deeply rooted in Caribbean making traditions.

As customers continue to applaud him at market tables and online drops sell out within minutes, Laborde remains grounded.

“There were times I went home with zero dollars,” he has reflected. “So this is overwhelming.”

For many in the Caribbean Diaspora, it is also affirming – a reminder that behind viral moments are years of unseen labor, and behind every “overnight success” is a long immigrant journey worth telling.