As co-founders of fashion label Creatures of the Wind, Shane Gabier and Chris Peters have been awarded several industry accolades including the 2011 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runner-up award and the Rising Stars award from the Chicago branch of Fashion Group International. In 2012, Gabier and Peters were also nominated for the 2012 and 2013 CFDA Swarovski Awards for Womenswear. In 2013 they made it to the final stages of the International Woolmark Prize and were among 30 international brands to be shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2014.
Former alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gabier and Peters met at their alma mater in 2007 while Peters was undertaking an undergraduate degree. Gabier, a professor in the fashion department at the time, had attended the school previously as an interior architecture student, before switching modules to fashion.
After forming a close friendship, the duo decided to launch their label soon after, naming it after the Jonny Mathis song "Wild is the Wind." Prior to launching Creatures of the Wind, Gabier had worked as a pattern cutter in Antwerp for designers such as Dirk Schoenberger and Jurgi Persoons and had launched his own label in 2002 from which Creatures of the Wind was built.
In June 2013 the label announced an investment from the Los Angeles-based Dock Group led by former chief executive and president of The Row.
In its early years, the duo were quickly championed by leading Chicago retailer Ikram and have been stocked in boutiques including Dover Street Market in London, Ra in Antwerp and 10 Corso Como. First showing at New York Fashion Week in 2009, the label attracted attention for its quirky aesthetic and unconventional mix of deadstock fabrics. The entirety of the brand's collections is manufactured in the United States.
