Following Target Corp.’s rollback of some DEI initiatives, Black founder Houston White shared a statement over the weekend about how the retail giant has helped his brand, which includes a clothing collection, haircare line, and packaged coffee sold in Target stores around the country.

“I can’t speak to decisions that they’ve made on a corporate level, because it’s out of my line of sight. I CAN speak to decisions they’ve made with me that have impacted my enterprise and my community in many positive ways over the years,” White said in a social media post and video on LinkedIn and Instagram.

“Behind every corporation there are real people,” White wrote. “My people at Target have believed in me, invested in me, and helped me bring forth a brand that celebrates my heritage. My grandmother made my clothing when I was a child, and I believe she would be immensely proud that I’m now designing fashion that celebrates our family’s heritage of ‘Sunday’s Best’ and making it accessible to everyone.”

The Houston White x Target clothing collection is sold at 600 Target stores. Target also caries White’s Get Down Coffee Co. packaged coffee and Fresh haircare products at select stores and online. (Read more about White’s growing enterprise in TCB’s October/November 2024 cover story, Houston White Means Business.)

White started talking to Target about a partnership in 2019. CEO Brian Cornell visited his North Minneapolis barbershop just before the pandemic in 2020 and continued to talk to White after the murder of George Floyd. Cornell wrote the forward to Houston’s autobiography, Culturemaking: When Creative Entrepreneurship and Community Building Collide, which debuted at Target and is now available through Amazon.

“He quoted me saying ‘America is the greatest mixtape ever made,’” White recounted in a video message, shot at his Camden Town barber shop, which is adjacent to The Get Down Coffee Co. cafe. “To me, they’ve been consistent in supporting the idea that I want to impact my community through culture plus capacity.”

While some activists have called for a boycott of Target, White joins a chorus of Black founders who are focusing on the opportunity a Target partnership can create for a small brand. Actress, author, and entrepreneur Tabitha Brown—whose extensive collection of lifestyle products sells at Target as well as Walmart and Amazon, which have also rolled back DEI programs—was one of the first to tell her 4.4 million Instagram followers that a boycott of the mass merchants could hurt Black-owned brands.

“It’s been very hard for Black-owned business to hit shelves. That’s why it’s such a big deal when we do….Don’t allow this foolishness to take us into separation and weed us out,” Brown said in a Jan. 25 Instagram Reel. “As frustrating as the whole situation is, we’ve still got to be smart. Buy the specific brands that you want to support.”

The Target.com homepage currently features a “Celebrate Black History Month” section with links to Black owned brands including The Honey Pot, The Lip Bar, Pair of Thieves undergarments, Partake cookies, BLK & Bold coffee, Houston White’s product lines and Tabitha Brown for Target, which spans grocery, stationery, home décor, crafts and gifts.

Target is also showcasing a collection of Black History Month apparel including t-shirts and sweatshirts for adults and kids with messages like “Gifted & Black.”