Millennial fashion guru Kerby Jean-Raymond is teaming up with Kering to launch a new platform that seeks to revolutionize customer-brand relationships
- Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder of the fashion label Pyer Moss, has teamed up with Kering to launch 'Your Friends in New York' — a creative platform that seeks to reimagine the way consumers interact with brands.
- The platform will combine fashion, music, philanthropy, art, and wellness, and offer various experiences for creatives; it will also include an incubator program to help support emerging talent.
- Jean-Raymond will also seek to help the marginalized communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
- Jean-Raymond now joins Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia and Shayne Oliver from Hood By Air as fashion designers who have launched platforms to help the creative and artistic community.
On September 10, fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder of the label Pyer Moss, launched "Your Friends in New York," a team-up with luxury giant Kering, designed to reimagine how consumers interact with brands.
Split into multiple divisions, the creative collective platform will combine fashion, music, philanthropy, art, and wellness, and offer various experiences for creatives, such as multi-day events and fashion shows. The platform will also offer an incubator program for emerging designers, a merchandise label, and take part in various charity endeavors.
"It is important to me to create and work on ventures that are future-forward, involve the community at large and that will continue to help others grow in the fashion and art space," Kerby Jean-Raymond said in a press release.
Jean-Raymond launched his brand Pyer Moss in 2013 and was the recipient of top honors at the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. He was also named Footwear News Person of the Year in 2019 and was recently named Harlem's Fashion Row Designer of the Year.
He is currently one of the top Black designers in fashion, counting Michelle Obama and Colin Kaepernick among his fans. In 2019 he was included on the TIME 100 Next list for his label Pyer Moss. The same year, he met with Kering Chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault about launching this platform; it was set to be released this March but postponed because of the pandemic.
Since the pandemic, Jean-Raymond has added a mission to the platform, which will seek to help marginalized communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The platform will also provide mental health services, primarily for those who live in public housing.
Further details regarding the platform and its various events are set to be released in the upcoming months, per the press release.
"When I met Kerby in 2019, I was impressed by his unique perspective of creativity, innovation, business, and social issues," François-Henri Pinault said in the release. "What struck me immediately was his willingness to invent a new, singular model, freeing himself from the usual constraints of the fashion system. It was only natural for Kering to support this project that seeks to empower new artistic talents, to encourage the diversity of creativity, and to give a voice to the younger generation of innovators."
Jean-Raymond joins other fashion designers, such as Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia and Shayne Oliver of Hood By Air, who have started platforms for creatives and artists. In July, Bendet launched Creatively with the aim of creating a Linked-In-inspired space that will allow artists to upload visual portfolios and resumes.
That month, Oliver reopened his fashion house, Hood By Air, which now includes a platform that will help support emerging creative talent, and take part in various charity endeavors.