Meet the le PÈREs!
Experience this story and others in the new issue of Highsnobiety Magazine, available from retailers around the world and our online store.
One moment it’s cartoon-ish football shirts made with Portuguese graphic designer Bráulio Amado, and the next it’s Korean wrestling-inspired graphics created by Cherry Kim. There’s no saying whom you might see le PÈRE work with, and that’s kind of the point. “I’m tired of knowing exactly where a brand is headed. I get that commercially it makes sense, but creatively I’m missing the mystery,” says Ryan Wright, le PÈRE’s CEO and founder.
The New York-based brand is delivering a new approach to collaborations. By working with a host of artists and creatives on every collection, le PÈRE translates their artistry into clothes that live in the gray area between luxury fashion and streetwear. In the brand’s own words, it’s “a canvas for creatives to express their work through clothing.”
An active protest against slap-dash fashion collaborations made for little more than headlines, there’s a genuine exchange between the brand and its creative partner on every item. It goes through a lengthy collaborative process to develop new items and silhouettes that incorporate their work. Essentially, le PÈRE is doing much more than just screen-printing an artist’s already-existing work onto a blank T-shirt.
Led by a group of established music and fashion executives, we caught up with the team who dreamt up the brand’s unconventional approach.
Ryan Wright, CEO and Founder
“I want a designer to make me fall in love with something I never saw coming. To take me to a fantasy that I didn’t have the address for. That’s where we started with le PÈRE. As a house of collaborations, we work with designers and artists that inspire us across all different mediums, nations, ages, genders, and backgrounds. There is no mold — our collaborations are wildly eclectic and emotionally charged. I think it’s that emotion — the creator’s individual signature in every piece — that makes le PÈRE so unique.”
Abhi Janamanchi, Brand Director
“The surreal, grand experiment that we call le PÈRE has been a process of constant learning and joy grounded in the understanding that this will continue to evolve in ways that we never could’ve imagined. We’ve taken an almost creative collective approach to starting a clothing brand.”
Samuel Choi, Design Director
“I found le PERE's collaborative approach to designing garments as a creative community to be quite rare. There is a real joy in deliberately setting aside your point of view to be inspired by the community around you. A serendipitous moment of surprise that really pushes the brand mission forward.”
Maria Turano, Head of Operations and Production
“Our design process is aimed at being as sustainable as possible. We seek to only make what we love, and about 99 percent of what we sample goes into production. We truly value what we make and want our customers to feel the same.”
Terry Long, Founder of 69 Crosby Consulting and PR Director
“le PÈRE represents all of the things I wish I had growing up: acceptance, community, inclusion, raw and honest emotions, and unpredictability, in a way. It’s the group of friends you wished you had been lucky enough to hang out with all of your life.”
Cherry Kim, Designer, Founder of Rhee Studio, and Collaborator
“le PÈRE fosters a community of deep collaboration and innovation by working with artists in parallel disciplines to fashion, amplifying their skill set and career over the course of the season. The end product equates to a ‘souvenir’ of sorts, for both the artist and consumer. Working with the team was immersive and extremely fulfilling.”
Bráulio Amado, Illustrator, Graphic Designer, and Collaborator
“When I first met with le PÈRE, I felt that there was good creative energy in the air — so I went for it. I’m very lucky to often have the freedom to explore and do ‘my thing,’ and the le PÈRE team wanted that as well. It feels like they are doing things right, and we all belong to a big, happy family.”
Conor Cunningham, Photographer, Director, and Collaborator
“le PÈRE is like a family. They bring artists in because they genuinely like and appreciate their work and respect those artists’ process, opinions, and ideas. The team works so hands-on, you can feel everyone really cares about what they are making and it makes everyone they work with care about the brand, too. It’s rare to feel so trusted and respected, and it’s what sets le PÈRE apart.”
