Heron Preston is an artist, creative director, content creator, clothing designer and DJ who has become a youth culture phenomenon in the Instagram generation, collaborated with Kanye West and Virgil Abloh , and debuted his namesake label at Paris Fashion Week in 2017.
Born in San Francisco, Preston moved to New York in 2004 to earn a BBA from Parsons School of Design. After he started documenting characters from New York’s downtown scene on a blog, he connected with fellow designer Virgil Abloh, who was contributing to another blog at the time. Preston then began working at Nike as global digital producer. But in 2012, Abloh, along with Kanye West crew members Matthew Williams and Justin Saunders, came calling. They launched streetwear label Been Trill, during which time Preston began collaborating with Kanye West as an art director, where he designed everything from tour merchandise to invites for Yeezy fashion shows.
However, during a trip to the Mediterranean, Preston saw first-hand the effects of pollution and subsequently became an advocate for sustainability and better environmental manufacturing practices. Preston collaborated with the NYC Department of Sanitation on a collection of zero-waste clothing and accessories, which sold out immediately following its launch in 2016.
When Abloh started Off-White and Williams started Alyx, they introduced Preston to the New Guards Group, the Milan-based production and distribution company working with Off-White. Preston signed a deal for his namesake label and made a debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2017. The line is stocked internationally at Ssense, Browns and Barneys New York.
The designer has also collaborated with brands such as Gap and Nike.
