President’s visited the Kinfolk Shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn recently to hang out with the guys and meet partner Keith Abrams and creative director Jey Perie. Last week, they welcomed the SS16 collection to their store with a party and an exclusive T-shirt featuring artist Alessandro Simonetti’s campaign photo for the season.

We interviewed Jey, who was looking fresh in the handpainted white/sky blue parka from the collection.

First up, give us the Kinfolk elevator speech. 
To me, Kinfolk is 8 years of friendship, successful design projects, exciting trips around the world and long conversations about the most random things in life… Besides that, we managed to open and run a bar in Tokyo, a café and nightclub here in Brooklyn, a multi-brand retail store and a clothing label.Who’s the “Kinfolk guy?” Who wears your stuff? Who shops here? We try to be as inclusive as possible. We have a pretty diverse (in both age and background) group of friends and associate and they all represent in one way or another the Kinfolk man. Our common threads is a love for Art and Music, traveling and all the pleasure that goes with it.
Who decorated the Williamsburg store? It’s so dope.

It’s a team effort, a lot of the Art and collectibles are actually from few of our partners’ personal collections. My focus is more the clothing and the brand selection. Our partner Salah Mason and our friend at Antifurniture have been doing a great job at curating a complete library of Art, fashion and design books.

Kinfolk is well-known for its judicious curation of brands – you guys have a very focused mix of established and emerging labels. hat eventually blow up in the fashion cities around the world. What drew you to President’s?

A friend introduced me to President’s in 2012 at FOG on Lafayette street. The store did not last but a good first impression always does. When doing our buy for Stone Island at M5 showroom I was happy to be reintroduce to the brand. The brand philosophy and aesthetic go perfectly with what we are trying to accomplish here at Kinfolk and it was the right time for us to bring President’s to our corner of Brooklyn.

Who are your personal style icons?

Serge Gainsbourg, Thelonious Monk, Moshiro Mifune, Fidel Castro.

Do you have a favorite piece or even favorite detail from the SS16 collection?

The simple white tee with President’s chain stitch is the piece I will be wearing the most myself. When I introduce the brand to customers, the piece I am usually the proudest to present is the white and sky-blue light weight parka. One of a kind print. It’s a unique piece.

Where do you guys hang out in Williamsburg?

When I’m not at Kinfolk, I’m usually down the street at Cafe Mogador. I also spend time in Manhattan where I have my studio, trying to combine the best of both borough.