Afro Unicorn®, an LA-Based fully-licensed character brand founded by trailblazing African American businesswoman April Showers, begins 2023 with a breakthrough year for creativity and authentic representation. Shattering the glass ceiling, Ms. Showers is the first Black woman to own a fully licensed character brand in major retail.
In 2022, Afro Unicorn hit the shelves of 3,800 Walmart stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico with party supplies and apparel. For the holidays, Afro Unicorn launched a new gift-giving tradition with its Magic Afro Unicorn gift box, encouraging acts of kindness.
2023 promises to be a Jordan Year for Afro Unicorn with a major presence at seven of the world’s top retail stores, including Walmart, Target, HomeGoods, Kohls, JCPenney, Amazon, and NovaKids. Afro Unicorn will also launch at Walmart Canada this February. The brand will skyrocket onto the scene with 25+ categories, from apparel and accessories to toys, puzzles, books, bedding, bandages, backpacks, collectibles, and more. With 45+ licensee partners worldwide, Afro Unicorn is the “blueprint” to empower and inspire entrepreneurs to enter the licensing space.
Ms. Showers says: “Afro Unicorn signifies two ideas: firstly, empowering and elevating emerging entrepreneurs. Secondly, it’s an homage to Africa and a promise to amplify representation. We deliver a product that feels ‘true and right’ and normalizes Black beauty. By doing so, Afro Unicorn uplifts women and children of color with the confidence they need to embrace who they are – unique, divine, and magical.”
Building the brand from the ground up, Afro Unicorn started in the e-commerce industry in 2019. Back then, it was an organic, grassroots brand, and Ms. Showers was pressing shirts and selling them through her eCommerce store, adding logos to T-shirts and bags at her customers’ request. Afro Unicorn burst onto the scene as a brand in August 2021 after a video of a little girl wearing an Afro Unicorn shirt went viral. Then, Ms. Showers received an email from Walmart with the subject title “Afro Unicorn x Walmart” collaboration, marking her start with Walmart as one of the first Black Women to enter the party supplies/celebration category with Afro Unicorn gaining prime shelf placement next to Marvel characters and Disney princesses.
Children will soon be able to live and play in a world of Afro Unicorn with plushies, collectibles, games, puzzles, books, playsets, ride-ons, outdoor play, and live animation in the works. A new line of original Afro Unicorn® books under the Random House Books for Young Readers imprint will be released widely in Fall 2023 featuring three Afro Unicorn characters by name across all Afro Unicorn® products.