In the fashion world, creativity and collaboration go together like needle and thread. Ever since legendary couturier Elsa Schiaparelli and pal Salvador Dali won rave reviews for their stiletto hat in the ’30s, designers and retailers have realized the power of teamwork to push aesthetic boundaries and inspire buyers to splurge on something they’ve never seen before.
That’s sure to be the case with a new accessories collection, the result of a collaboration between two of Fort Worth’s most successful fashion entrepreneurs: boutique owner Dawn Keifer and accessories designer Daniel Wright.
It all began this summer when Keifer approached Wright about bringing his vintage-inspired leather goods line, W Durable Goods, to the shelves of her West 7th boutique, Lane-Knight. She’d long admired the duffels, Dopp kits and totes handcrafted by Wright and his wife, Stephanie. But the line already was available at several local retailers, including the Wrights’ own Northside shop. Keifer knew her customers would be expecting her to carry something they couldn’t find anywhere else. A collaboration was the natural solution.
It was a first for both, but they embraced the process. “Our products have always been unisex, but this was an opportunity to take them in a more feminine, more refined direction,” Daniel Wright says. For Keifer, who once was involved with product design as a buyer for Pier 1 Imports before building the Lane-Knight website and brick-and-mortar store, the chance to create something from scratch was “pure fun.”