Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour stops to include only nine cities
The “Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour” will run in only nine cities April through July.
- Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” look from her latest album has sparked a trend of fans buying personalized sashes.
- Etsy sellers and small business owners are seeing a surge in sales, particularly after the tour announcement.
- The sashes represent a sense of community among Beyoncé fans, similar to Taylor Swift’s friendship bracelets.
Beyoncé donned a “Cowboy Carter” sash on the cover of her eighth studio album, and now fans are rushing to buy their own ahead of her upcoming tour, leading to a surge in sales for sash makers.
Ashley Yang, a certified Beyhive member based in Los Gatos, California, began selling “Cowboy Carter”-inspired sashes on her Etsy store Deep Cuts last year when she first saw Beyoncé’s cover.
Yang was immediately inspired to create her own sash after Beyoncé released the album on March 29, 2024–just days before her birthday. And she made the ‘Cowboy Carter’ alvum the entire theme for her birthday, creating personalizing sashes for her and her friends.
That’s when I made like the first version of these sashes and kind of immediately knew if I want this, I’m sure other Beyoncé fans out there want it too,” Yang said.
And from there, the sashes became the first product on her ever-growing Etsy store. The sashes are now being sold starting at $38.
While she has branched out into other products on Etsy, she says her business really began to flourish once Beyoncé announced her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour earlier this year.
“The volume this year so far is crazy, and so it’s just really awesome to kind of see stuff that I was seeing last year really coming to fruition this year,” she says.
Yang says fans have gotten creative personalizing their sashes, and she foresees that being a trend throughout the tour.
“I think it could become a thing where everyone has a sash, but they all say different things,” Yang says. And it’s like becoming a thing, ‘what is yours going to say?’ Maybe similar to the Taylor Swift friendship bracelets.”
Other businesses owners and sash-makers agree the overarching theme of the sash trend is community.
“I think community and customization is really sort of the key with the sashes,” Kureé Sheard says.
In 2019, Sheard started her businesses Ninalem’s Party, which makes “decor that inspires people to live unapologetically.”
Based in Wall Township, New Jersey, Sheard calls herself a founding BeyHive member and says she immediately got the idea to customize sashes once she saw the cover of “Cowboy Carter.” Now she sells them in all sizes.
“I’ve loved Beyoncé since I was 11 years old,” Sheard says. “And I really appreciate Beyoncé because she sets trends. She’s so innovative. And whenever I think about my work ethic, I like to sort of liken it or compare it to Beyoncé.”
While her business has sold other themed sashes in the past, the Beyoncé-inspired products have made a huge impact. They have gone viral on social media, and her business has been booming with personalized orders. She says attributes the success to God’s timing because Beyoncé announced the tour at a time when her business was struggling immensely.
“I opened up my Instagram, there was my girl (Beyoncé) with her blond gray box braids announcing the tour … and from there, it was up like our business did a complete 180,” Sheard says. “This is a God thing.”
Sheard says the sashes are more than a trend. They not only reinforce community but also originate from it.
“We have built community around Beyoncé because it’s authentic. For me, there’s no one else but Beyoncé,” she says. “I get on (Instagram) live and we just talk about Beyoncé. We just literally talk about everything like what we think she’s going to open with or what do we think people are going to wear.”
She is taking sash orders on her ninalemsparty.com starting at $39.95.
“I really wanted this to be like my ode to the hive, my love story, my gift to the hive, to just do a great quality sash at a great price point,” Sheard says.
Beyoncé released her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter” on March 29, 2024, making history on multiple fronts with the project. On April 28, she will kick off her highly anticipated tour in Los Angeles.
Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
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