Dear Designers,

I always think things CAN be different and they can always be better.

I started a small clothing line in 1999, only to run into the endless problems that all designers face... finding sample makers, sourcing, marketing, production, etc... It’s a really tough business where no one seems to want to tell you anything because every step of the way was somehow considered a trade secret (“that’s mine denim source”).

I had a simple idea. It was really difficult for me, as a one man team, to reach out to the buyers and press who were bombarded everyday with young designers vying for their attention. Why don’t we band together and make it easier for the buyer and press to find information about us? I never saw other designers as competitors, but as other dream-filled strugglers. So in 2000, SoWear.com was born as a mean to market young designers together. Living in the East Village in NYC, I also knew a lot of photographers, stylists and makeup artists who were all trying to get their feet wet, and soon, they were also included in SoWear.

Stars and Infinite Darkness was born of a similar idea, to create a place where consumers can find exciting young designers. Where there was always something new and the press generated by each designer would benefit each other. As Stars and Infinite Darkness gained more attention, buyers and press would constantly be asking me for information about new designers... where is this designer from? How can I get this designer in my store?... Most of the time I would just send these buyers and press directly to the designers but I simply could not take care of them all. So it came time to build something new.

PinkGray was built from scratch. It’s not running on some existing shopping software as most shopping web sites are. Having been in many different aspects of the business, what I wanted simply did not exist. From the surface, it looks like any shopping web site. In fact, I designed PinkGray to be as simple as possible. But under the surface is what I always wanted as a young designer — a business center that would organize all of my company’s information that would be accessible everywhere I go.

Like SoWear and Stars and Infinite Darkness, PinkGray thrives because of the multitude of designers. Buyers and press will come because it saves them time to look in one place as oppose to one hundred places. Do not think of the other designers as your competitors, rather as your co-marketers.

In everything I do, I have a fundamental believe that creativity nurtures the soul and supporting creativity helps our society. So go ahead, show them what you got!

Sincerely,

Jason Yang
Owner
PinkGray LLC