Sara (left) and Mary, getting pose-y.

One of the coolest things about year one of Of a Kind: discovering just how interconnected some of our favorite designers are. Mary Meyer and Sara Gates each have their own lines—Mary making streamlined, edgy apparel, and Sara creating custom-dyed, attention-grabbing totes under the name Cook & Gates—but they are both integral to each other’s work. Mary sells Sara’s bags at her awesome store in Bushwick (more on that tomorrow); Sara does all of the screen-printing on Mary’s creations. Here, Mary breaks down their relationship and why it works so damn well.

“Sara and I met coincidentally through the person who does this beauty-product line, Goldie’s, that I sell at the store. At the time, I was driving back and forth from Philly, having something screen-printed by an old friend of mine there for my spring 2008 line. That was the first time I did a collection with the type of prints that have become my hallmark. My friend Sarah T. told me that her best friend Sara G. had a print shop in Brooklyn.”


Goldie’s! By Sarah T.

“Sara ended up doing the production for the samples that season, and we have been working together ever since. It’s just been an amazing relationship. What I love about working with Sara is you can get her to do a T-shirt, sure, but where she’s really inspired is figuring out how to do something challenging. She’s more inclined to do a job that’s crazy and interesting where she has to build something to make it work. To print my leggings, she made a leg form, and she does these glass jars for Goldie’s that require a wooden frame to print.”


Cook & Gates bags in Mary’s store, by Sara G.

“I think it is also exciting to work together because we’re both self-taught. I mean, Sara went to art school, too, but we’re both these businesswomen who didn’t study business. And I think we have this similarity in that our businesses grew organically. She’s one of the only people in New York who does hand yardage printing, and she’ll get these really big exciting clients because of that.”

Kick off your Black Friday shopping with Mary Meyer’s edition! Get on our email for a reminder tomorrow AM.