Gap’s been linking up with Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR), the platform dedicated to discovering, showcasing, and supporting designers of colour, for six years now and their latest collaboration is better than ever. Coming together to drop a 20-piece collection created with the help of five Black designers, the collab is an ode to culture, craftsmanship, and community.
This time, Gap and Harlem’s Fashion Row are working to celebrate denim, a fabric at the heart of Gap’s heritage, through the works of designers Daveed Baptiste, LaTouché, IGDALYAH, Atelier Ndigo, and Nicole Benefield Portfolio. Talking about the collection, Gap’s President and CEO Mark Breitbard said, “This collection continues our legacy in denim by creating space for Black designers.”
For the collection, the five designers involved each submitted a four-piece capsule, interpreting denim through their own unique visions. We got the chance to speak to the talented minds involved, finding out their inspiration, why this collaboration is important, and what working with a global brand like Gap means for them.
First up, designer Daveed Baptiste reimagines denim through the lens of Caribbean culture, with pieces inspired by ocean waves and sunbathed shores. Baptiste explained how his involvement in the partnership with Gap and HFR meant a lot, because of “the level of care and intention behind every decision, especially within the design process.” He told us, “as an independent designer, you don’t often get access to the inner workings of large, global organisations. Working with Gap and HFR offered a rare inside look.”
Another brand behind the collection, LaTouché felt similarly, telling us, “this global GAP collaboration means everything. It brings global validation and credibility, and access to a brand new audience. It shifts my entire brand perception.” In the collection, LaTouché’s pieces are bold, proportion bending, and sculptural, de- and re-constructing denim into new classics.
The designer behind IGDALYAH, Igdaliah Pickering, nods to her Caribbean background through custom-washed turquoise-teal denim and immersive textures. For her, collaboration felt symbolic. As Pickering put it, “Working with Gap feels full-circle. It’s a chance to collaborate with a brand that shaped how so many of us first experienced fashion, while bringing my own cultural perspective and design language.”
Atelier Ndigo, headed up by Waina Chancy, told us how she “wanted to bring a little bit of Caribbean flair to the collection,” referencing her Haitian background through architectural designs in rich textures and patterns. She noted that, “both Gap and HFR understand the struggle that Black designers go through to break into the industry,” acknowledging how the collaboration gave her “the exposure to grow.”
And lastly, Nicole Benefield Portfolio brought a menswear-inspired capsule, blending her style codes of the modern uniform with Gap's iconic denim. As Nicole told us, her approach to the project focused on “exploring washes and colors that are of the moment keep the collection light. The styles are focused on modern proportions that can be worn as a look or individually merged into anyone's wardrobe effortlessly.”
Gap and Harlem’s Fashion Row’s collection, created in collaboration with five Black designers, is available to shop in the UK from today (February 19th, 2026) by hitting this link.
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