Cooyah (clothing company)

Today Cooyah is one of the most recognized Caribbean brands but it wasn’t always like that. Cooyah was founded by Homer Bair and Susan Kreitman in 1987. One would believe that the clothing line inspired by Reggae, Roots and Rastafarian culture would have an easy time catching on but it wasn’t the case.

The company began printing shirts in New York City for several American companies such as Def Jam and HBO. Keeping his Jamaican up-bringing in mind, Homer set out to design clothing that reflected Caribbean culture. Cooyah faced many challenges in the extremely competitive fashion industry. Initially the Caribbean community did not accept Cooyah because they preferred purchasing American clothing brands.

Cooyah relocated to Florida where they were better embraced and their popularity began to grow. After becoming a registered trademark company in 1996, Cooyah shifted their focus to the Caribbean. On their road to success, Cooyah had to over come losing their South Beach outlet to fire and two other locations on the island of St. Martin to Hurricane Louise. Since then, the brand has secured a number of endorsements from major events such as International Reggae Day, the annual Tru-Juice Rebel Salute and Caribbean Fashion Week. Cooyah has had models represent them on runways in the Caribbean, North America, Europe and Asia.