BOYKIN, Ala. — Ralph Lauren has launched a new collection with the quilters of Gee’s Bend, the rural Alabama community whose handmade quilts have become some of the most celebrated works in American folk art. The collaboration, part of the company’s Artist in Residence program, went on sale July 28 and was created with Gee’s Bend textile artists Claudia Pettway Charley and Loretta Pettway Bennett.
The community known as Gee’s Bend is in Boykin, Alabama, in Wilcox County, southwest of Selma and along the Alabama River. The area was originally tied to a cotton plantation established in 1816 and later became home to descendants of enslaved people who developed a distinctive quilting tradition that began in the 19th century.
Gee’s Bend quilts were originally made out of necessity, using scraps of cloth and worn clothing to provide warmth in homes that often lacked adequate heat. Over time, the work evolved into a celebrated art form known for improvisational designs, bold colors and geometric patterns.
The Freedom Quilting Bee, founded in 1966 by women from Gee’s Bend and nearby Rehoboth, helped bring wider recognition and income to local quilters during the Civil Rights era. The group’s work later reached major museums, broadening Gee’s Bend’s reputation far beyond Alabama.
Ralph Lauren said 5% of the purchase price of each item in the collection will go to the Equal Justice Initiative’s hunger relief work in Alabama. The company described the release as the fifth installment in its Artist in Residence program.