Ralph Lauren has turned to the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama, for the fifth installment of its Artist in Residence program, bringing two textile artists from the community into a 10-piece collaboration that ranges from a $225 mug set to a $4,998 hand-stitched jacket.

The collection features the work of Claudia Pettway Charley, a fourth-generation textile artist known for an improvisational approach, and Loretta Pettway Bennett, a fifth-generation artist acclaimed for graphic quilts. The two share a surname but are not related. Both belong to the Gee's Bend community, a Black quilting tradition shaped by generations of practice in a rural bend of the Alabama River.

The jacket at the collection's top price point is made of hand-stitched pieces representing original artwork designed by Pettway Charley and Pettway Bennett. The collection also incorporates freeform lines, visible topstitching, and the repurposing of worn materials into geometric works — hallmarks of the Gee's Bend style, which has been recognised by museums and collectors for decades. WWD

Ralph Lauren began its Artist in Residence program in 2022. The first collaboration debuted in 2023 with Naomi Glasses, a Diné/Navajo textile artist. Subsequent collaborations have included Zefren-M, also Diné/Navajo; Jocy and Trae Little Sky of TÓPA, from the Oceti Sakowin nation; and a second collaboration with Naomi Glasses and her brother Tyler.

Each Artist in Residence collaboration supports an organisation serving members of the resident artist's community. The program sits within a broader Ralph Lauren initiative called "Design With Intent," which the company describes as an effort to expand its portrayal of America and to evolve from inspiration toward collaboration — a shift away from the industry's long-standing practice of referencing marginalised communities' designs without direct involvement.

Halide Alagöz, chief product and merchandising officer at Ralph Lauren, oversees the collaboration within the company's product organisation. WWD

The Gee's Bend quilting community is not new to fashion's reach. In 2021, designer Greg Lauren — a nephew of Ralph Lauren, working separately — collaborated with Gee's Bend quilters on a collection that debuted at Bergdorf Goodman. WWD

What gives the Ralph Lauren collaboration its particular weight is the structure around it: the Artist in Residence framework gives the quilters design credit, attaches a charitable contribution to their community, and places the work in Ralph Lauren's direct-to-consumer channels at luxury price points. For a tradition that originated in a place defined by isolation and economic constraint, the question of how the work is carried into a $5,000 garment — and who is paid for it — is the one the program is built to answer.