Introducing Kerby Young’s latest capsule collection called ‘Island Boy’ which has the Caribbean buzzing and curious to learn more about this serial entrepreneur, and the rise of his start-up Caribbean-inspired clothing business and ever-evolving Fashion empire right here in the Caribbean.
Kerby Young is a 36-year-old, Guyanese-born, Trinidad-based Creative Director and Fashion Designer of Kerby Young Designs (KYD). As a self-taught fashion designer with a career in fashion designing for over 16 years, Caribbean Entertainment Hub was intrigued to learn what exactly ignited his passion for fashion?
Well, according to Mr. Young, it all first began when he designed an elegant evening gown for a Miss-talented Teen pageant. Since then, his Fashion empire has now evolved into him designing unisex clothing, bags, accessories, and masks, all of which are inspired by the Caribbean aesthetic. He believes that the Caribbean aesthetic manages to balance the beauty of clothing and the sustainability of life and that is mainly why he decided to center his company’s brand around the Caribbean.
Throughout the years, he was able to gain popularity in countries such as Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and some parts of the USA and Canada. Despite the challenges that covid restrictions posed, he was able to release his brand-new collection which targets the men of KYD.
So who exactly is an ‘Island Boy’ and what exactly was the inspiration behind it?
According to Mr. Young, he believes that being “an island boy” means, to be someone who truly appreciates and revels in the Caribbean’s flora and fauna and all that it brings. His inspiration for this collection was derived from the newly popular term ‘hot boy summer’. Every piece from this capsule aims to radiate the same vibrant energy and beauty of the Caribbean through the fabrics and colors chosen. When constructing these designs, his main mission was to ensure that anyone who wears any of these pieces feels empowered, motivated, driven…essentially the best version of themselves.
Not allowing the covid-19 pandemic to constrict his creativity, he decided to release his new clothing capsule ‘Island Boy’. The inspiration behind the collection was actually inspired by the social media video platform TikTok. Sharing that he often heard people constantly talking about ‘hot girl summer’.
‘What happen to ‘hot boy summer’? I realized that was not a thing. So I thought, let me see if I could do something for the guys.’
Young said most of his designs are for the ladies, and they were more into fashion. So he titled his collection for the guys ‘Island Boy’. The collection color palette consists of sea blues, green, red, and yellow, with each piece given a Caribbean-themed name such as ‘Caribbean Sea’and ‘Caribbean Breeze’ just to name a few. You can enjoy some of the designs from his ‘Island Boy’ capsule collection below.
So far the response from his collection has been positive. With one of his shirts designs being featured on Soca artiste Turner’s new music video ‘Summertime’. Young even added that he will be adding hoodies and track pants as well as more ‘Island Boy’ merchandise soon as well as a new collection on the way with the ladies in mind that he hopes to release for the Christmas season.
If you’re interested in learning more about Kerby Young’s ‘Island Boy’ Capsule collection, you can visit kerbyyoung.com or follow Kerby Young Designs on Instagram and Facebook.
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