Artists like BTS, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Cardi B, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, John Mayer, Post Malone, Roddy Rich, Lil Baby, among others, will receive bags full of products and goodies.
Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary, a veteran who has been a curator of the Grammy Awards gift bag for 22 years, said the Recording Academy wants this year’s offerings (for artists and presenters) to reflect current times.
What they will receive are the most inclusive and diverse Grammy gift bags to date, “representing companies owned and operated by individuals of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, age, people with disabilities and beyond”. It is a gesture that Fary said his team has changed naturally over the past five or more years, as companies and brands focus on social responsibility.
While many of the domestic goods and products come from brands led by BIPOC, others come from companies that have made philanthropic commitments to relevant causes. For example, inside the bag, recipients will find new Ruffles Flamin ‘Hot BBQ fries. Ruffles owner Pepsico recently committed $ 400 million as part of a five-year plan to promote and support black communities.
Fary declined to specify the value of the gift bags and said only that “the real value is that we are elevating and illuminating these different brands”. He would say that the amount is compatible with previous years and that about 100 will be distributed to VIPs. (WWD reported that the price is over US $ 5,000.) And speaking of delivery, to honor the COVID-19 protocols and keep in touch at a minimum, the bags will be delivered or mailed to show participants, rather than exchanged at a set, as is typical.
Grammy Awards presenter Trevor Noah is also represented on the bags through a collaboration from Bonfire and the Trevor Noah Foundation, which features a t-shirt and bag set. Featuring designs by South African artists and currently for sale by the Trevor Noah Foundation on Bonfire.com, 100 percent of the profits help the Trevor Noah Foundation in its mission to bring education to children in South Africa.
With dozens of products included, it is a challenge to list them all, but the highlights include: luxury tea essentials from Cup of Té, a tea company founded by Taylor Lindsay-Noel, a disabled black businesswoman who was a gymnast of world class in adolescence before a life-altering accident; handmade bath and body products from the luxury brand Hotsy Totsy Haus, a company founded by a deaf and single mother Christi Leonardi; handmade pumpkin and peanut butter cookies from Wags Cookies made by Emily Ainsworth, who fights against dysautonomy and chronic pain; The HGC Apparel scarf “Respect Protect Love the Black Woman”, which serves as a celebration of founder Marcia Smith’s black culture; PETA has partnered with Save the Duck for a high-tech, feather-free vegan coat; Once upon a time there was a Blume Change Maker Village, a sale of anti-racist children’s books that support NAACP; and Unis Brand’s 3D printed sneakers that feature fully recycled materials, such as water bottles and reconditioned sheets.
“Giving gifts is always a lovely thing, even in the worst of times,” explains Fary. “With the coronavirus pandemic, systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter movement, there is so much going on in the world that it would be irresponsible of us to put together a gift bag for a global musical event like the Grammy and not recognize what is happening in the world.… Looking from the outside, it looks like an incredibly fun gift bag, and when you look closely, it’s so exciting. “