IMG and PayPal to relaunch MADE showcase in Brooklyn

The MADE fashion platform that first debuted in 2009 to help emerging designers garner resources and guidance after the Global Financial Crisis will be relaunched this summer with the help of PayPal. While luxury brands have thrived during the pandemic, independent and lesser known local talents have faced challenges and economic uncertainty. A two-day event in Brooklyn, produced by IMG Focus from June 24-25, will place the spotlight back on the creative energy emanating from New York.

“At this critical moment of recovery from the inequitable impacts of the pandemic, MADE x PayPal will contribute to empowering the next generation of diverse designers and build a more inclusive digital economy,” Vice President of Corporate Affairs for PayPal, Amanda Miller, said in a statement. “Our support for MADE is an extension of PayPal's commitment to advance racial equity and support underserved businesses and communities.”

MADE events have served as a launching pad for brands like Hood By Air, Jonathan Simkhai, and Public School. Ten years after their first MADE appearance, Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne will return to serve as curators and mentors to the new class that they worked closely with MADE and PayPal to select.

"We are honored to be mentors at MADE x PayPal to help amplify the voices of the next generation of fashion designers,” Chow and Osborne commented. “MADE gave us a platform to share our creativity and tell the Public School story at the very beginning of our brand journey and we are forever grateful for that. Each one, teach one is an important lesson we've always tried to live by so this is closing the circle for us.”

The selected designers to be featured at the Brooklyn event include Thermal and Ksace of Whensmokeclears, a name that bears little figurative meaning as the brand was founded by the pair after experiencing an actual NYC apartment fire. Nigerian-American designer Kingsley Gbadegesin, who gained experience at Versace, Loewe and Celine, founded his Brooklyn-based label K.ngsley while facing unemployment during the pandemic and has made it into a success. Bed On Water, the third brand to be highlighted, comes from the creativity of Shanel Campbell of the Bronx who infuses her Caribbean heritage into her work and has told Vogue she hopes to make Bed On Water a collective that includes other creators of color.

Interviews and discussions during the MADE x PayPal event will be accessible remotely through WNL Radio by Public School NYC. All proceeds from the sale of exclusive, limited-edition Public School x MADE merchandise will benefit Young New Yorkers, an organization that provides arts-based diversion programs to young city residents that get caught up in the criminal justice system to help redirect their lives. Additionally, a MADE Marketplace will offer limited-edition items from other local New York-based fashion and beauty brands that will only be available for purchase during the event.

More information can be found on the event website Ma.de.