Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow this year achieved what every advertiser wishes it could achieve. Their fashion label Public School went commercial while staying creative and relevant, thanks to a collaboration with American fashion darling J. Crew.
It wasn't the first time the New York-based duo took the fashion world by surprise. The label in 2013 won two CFDA awards -- the Vogue Fashion Fund and Swarovski award for menswear, an honor typically reserved for more established and higher-profile designers. But their success may be due not just to their sleek street clothes but also to their understanding of how to create and communicate an image. After all, Mr. Chow is a student of marketing. After studying communications at NYU, he held various marketing gigs, including VP-marketing for Sean Combs' label Sean John and marketing director for Ecko. Public School currently sells to over 20 retailers and generated just under $1 million in annual sales.
