Some clothes make an entrance. Others become part of the story people remember. In Harlem, the Wood family has spent decades creating both.
At 245 Lenox Avenue, Harlem Haberdashery is more than a clothing boutique. It is the retail expression of 5001 FLAVORS, the custom clothing company Guy and Sharene Wood launched in 1992. The business began with bespoke design and a referral-driven clientele; in 2012, the family opened Harlem Haberdashery as a public-facing store and showroom.
A business built on knowing the person inside the clothes
5001 FLAVORS grew through custom work, not the traditional fashion calendar. Columbia College Today’s profile of Sharene Wood describes a company whose clients often arrived through personal referrals, with Guy serving as its primary designer and Sharene leading the business. The approach is intimate by design: understand the client, make the piece, and let the fit and finish do the talking.
The company’s history intersects with music, sports and popular culture. Its work has dressed performers and athletes across generations. The point is not simply celebrity association; it is the way custom clothing helps artists build a visual language that audiences recognize before the first note or opening scene.
The boutique as a Harlem room
Harlem Haberdashery gives that design practice a neighborhood address. The store at 245 Lenox Avenue—also known as Malcolm X Boulevard—brings together ready-to-wear pieces, custom clothing and the family’s wider fashion universe. The Wood family has described the shop as a place where fashion, family and community meet, with events and charitable initiatives forming part of its public life.
There is a distinctly Harlem sensibility in that mix. The boutique’s aesthetic draws on the neighborhood’s cultural memory while speaking in a contemporary fashion vocabulary. It does not ask Harlem to remain frozen in a sepia photograph; it treats history as material to work with.
Legacy is something you keep making
Thirty-plus years after 5001 FLAVORS began, the larger question is how a family-owned creative business keeps its identity while new generations discover it. The answer, at least in the Wood family’s case, appears to be a combination of craft, relationships and a storefront that lets people encounter the work in person.
For current hours, appointments and collections, check Harlem Haberdashery and 5001 FLAVORS directly. The store is listed at 245 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10027.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What makes a fashion label part of a city’s cultural history: the clothes, the people who wear them, or the community that keeps the story alive?
STAY IN THE MOOD
Harlem style has never been one look. It is a conversation across generations—and the best designers know how to keep it moving.
Live Your Mood.
Reporting note: Company history and founder roles are drawn from Columbia College Today and the CFDA production directory. Confirm current store hours and appointment availability with the business.
Columbia College Today: Catching Up with Sharene Wood · CFDA: 5001 FLAVORS · NYC Tourism: Harlem Haberdashery
