Trey Denis is a multidisciplinary fashion designer celebrated for his ability to fuse luxury craftsmanship with modern sustainability across some of the industry’s most iconic brands.
Trey Denis is an emerging designer known for his versatile approach to contemporary fashion, blending luxury craftsmanship with sustainable innovation. With a background that spans some of the industry’s most influential houses, including Coachtopia, Maison Atia, Cynthia Rowley, Bill Blass, and Amazon Fashion. Denis has developed a design language that merges classic sophistication with a forward-thinking ethos. His time at Coachtopia, Coach’s sustainability-focused label, honed his commitment to circular design and material innovation, while his experience at Maison Atia refined his understanding of texture, tailoring, and ethical luxury.
Building on his extensive experience across heritage and contemporary brands, Trey Denis continues to champion design with a high level of utility, craftsmanship, and longevity. His work with Coachtopia exemplifies this philosophy — creating handbags from the production waste of Coach’s most iconic designs, reimagining scraps into one-of-a-kind, limited-edition pieces that elevated circularity into a luxury practice.
Denis approaches materials not as disposable commodities but as sources of potential and storytelling, ensuring that every piece is both beautiful and repairable. Denis envisions a future where functionality and legacy coexist seamlessly, where design is timeless, adaptable, and responsible. His process, rooted in circular design and an honest respect for craft, reflects a belief that the next era of fashion must not only look forward but also give new life to what already exists.
Where are you from, and which high school did you attend?
I’m originally from New Orleans. I went to a dual high school. I spent half of my day at a Catholic high school and the other half at an art school, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). It was literally a playground for artists, a beacon for kids interested in creative fields. I was in the visual arts program, and my teachers saw that all my visual art projects were focused on fashion.
From there, they looked for ways to nurture my fashion design skills and created a program that combined visual arts with theatre costume design. This was simply because they didn’t have a fashion design program. I believe they should now, but at the time they didn’t. I feel like the majority of my success stemmed from my education at NOCCA. It was a great, solid foundation for me as an artist.
Did you know in high school that you wanted to attend Parsons, and how did you get into the fashion design program there?
I think I realised I wanted to be a fashion designer toward the end of middle school, as I was heading into high school. I tried to build my path in high school that allowed me to get to Parsons. It was always my dream, as I grew up during a time when Project Runway was very popular. So, I knew about the school, and I did my own research on other designers who graduated from there, like Tom Ford and Donna Karen. Parsons had a very strong selection of alumni.
I believed that to succeed in design, I needed to attend the best school, so I dedicated myself to working hard. I focused on my portfolio so that it really reflected that I deserved to be there. By the time that I was trying to apply for colleges, I only applied for Parsons, and all of my advisors from my Catholic school and from NOCCA were like, “You’re talented, we get it, but this is wild, you should at least have a backup plan”. My backup plan was to take a semester or a year off and reapply. Fortunately, I was accepted.
I still remember the recruiter. It was the biggest interview that I had experienced in my life at the time. I remember thinking I had to impress them by being my most charming self and truly selling myself. I didn’t come from an extremely wealthy family; we were comfortable, but not in a way that made paying for Parsons’ tuition easy. I knew I needed to secure substantial scholarships, and fortunately, I succeeded in doing so. That’s how I got into Parsons.
Did Parsons live up to your expectations?
I’m a bit torn by my thoughts on Parsons. I think that Parsons had very good courses at its foundation. During my time there, they had issues with inclusivity. In my senior year, one of my key professors didn’t really support me. Her criticism of my work came from her own understanding of how Parsons judged senior thesis. I think that she was trying to look out for my best interest, but I also think that in many ways it stifled my creative process and made me a bit anxious. When I graduated, I felt like I was scrutinised quite heavily. I was receiving mixed reviews. I was also hearing that my senior thesis was good. But I wasn’t getting the support from the actual administration to spotlight my work.
I was applying for various senior year competitions where I would present my work in front of Kering and other businesses. Even though I applied for all of them, they never chose me. I think it was about Parsons’ willingness to present other aesthetics. Parsons was more worried about keeping a cohesive, almost homogenised look and appearance than a true representation of the arts.
When I graduated, although I was still proud of the work I did at Parsons, I was also a bit afraid of having a similar outcome in the workforce. A lot of that you have to get over as a designer and as an artist.
You have to know that at its core, the industry is subjective and that your aesthetic, what you bring to the industry, is important. That if you’ve done the work that someone will know that there’s worth in your talent and that you are a valuable designer. That’s what I had to learn really quickly, especially in the process of me trying to look for my first job.
Thankfully, it didn’t take me too long to get my first assistant design job. It was definitely intimidating, being surrounded by friends I graduated with who were equally talented. It is also a tough industry to work in, especially when you’re just starting. You are worried you haven’t made a name for yourself, and there are several design students who are looking for those few assistant design jobs. I think that there’s a bit of uncertainty in that first year after graduating, even though you’ve gotten the degree.
Your first job after your degree was at Bill Blass. How was the interview process and the job itself?
The interview process was quite short. It was one of the shorter interviews that I had during that time. I came quite prepared, and I was also quite excited because at the time, Bill Blass was under the creative direction of Chris Benz. I was really excited about the position because I would be working directly underneath him. Usually, if you’re the assistant designer, you may not even have the creative director’s email. Chris and I hit it off really well in the interview, and I got a call back. It was a very informative job for me.
It was literally just me and Chris, and we had one freelancer who would come in during production time just to help out. I was deeply involved in every step of the process, from gathering inspiration to sketching. It was also my first experience working with a factory in Asia. I was gaining valuable experience working with manufacturers in China, learning the entire process from sketching to the first sample. I revised those samples, sent edits to the factory, adjusted the fit, and oversaw the final production. It was rewarding to witness the complete lifecycle of design.
Additionally, the various departments were very close, almost within arm’s reach. I began to understand how my role influenced theirs and vice versa, gaining insight into the interconnected workings of a fashion company.
I worked mainly in accessories. We were focusing on shoes and handbags. I didn’t have much experience in shoes, which was the focus of Bill Blass, but I learned a lot about the process of designing shoes. At Parsons, I took a semester course on designing shoes. I always had an interest in it, and thankfully, they gave me a chance
What is your favourite part of accessory design, and what is your process?
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Experiencing raw inspiration is one of my favourite parts. It’s like when you’re on vacation and notice a unique pattern on a tree native to that city. For me, that kind of raw inspiration is incredibly important. I feel nurtured when I’m able to explore and just feel, and learn about something that’s interesting to me. Which then allows for the rest of the work to be easy because now you’ve become inspired by something.
Sketching is a very important language that helps you to communicate your intent to many different people. You have to give it to your creative director; they have to understand it. The factory needs to understand it and also get your intent. Most of this stuff is just a flat rendering, but my real favourite part is seeing samples come in. Seeing the first round of samples from that flat sketch turn into something dimensional, tangible, something you can hold in your hand, touch and edit further. I also love that aspect because it reflects my success in communication. When a sample arrives in great condition with minimal adjustments needed, it demonstrates that the nuanced language of design effectively translates.
Sometimes a handbag arrives looking visually fine, but I consider how it feels. Should it be slouchier or stiffer? Understanding the intended use of the bag helps me design more effectively.
What do you think makes an It-bag? And what are your all-time favourite It-bags?
I believe that the consumer makes an It-bag. Of course, there’s marketing, advertising and the design itself. But something that I learned from a previous creative director is that you can’t sit down and tell a design team, “We need to make an It-bag,” and expect to make one. The consumer really made It-bag, and the consumer tells the company if it is one. As a designer, you strive for luck and hope to create an It-bag, but the outcome is always uncertain. Understanding your customer, knowing what they like and what their end use for a handbag helps to make a bag do really well.
My all-time favourite It bags begin with the Louis Vuitton Speedy, which offers great utility. Next are the Fendi Baguette and Fendi Peekaboo. While the Peekaboo hasn’t reached the same iconic status yet, I believe it’s poised for a resurgence and will find its rightful place alongside the Baguette.
You worked at Coach, which has a rich leather goods heritage. What did you feel like you learned from your time there that still informs your approach to materials or craftsmanship?
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I just finished three years at Coach. It was such an informative three years. I was the handbag designer who started the sub-label Coachtopia with Coach. It was an amazing opportunity to have the chance to design for Coachtopia. It was my first time designing for Coach, and it had always been a dream of mine to work for Coach; it’s just such an American legacy leather brand. The idea that I was going to be designing within a sub-label when it was the first time they had ever done one was such interesting territory for me. When in life do you get the opportunity to say that I worked with the creative director of Coach and we created the codes of a new sublabel? It was super cool.
I focused my design work on circular and sustainable practices. Coach prioritised this initiative, aiming for Coachtopia to become a circular sub-label. This aligned perfectly with my career goals and felt like a natural progression in my design journey. Materials and craftsmanship influenced a lot of my work there. Material was important at Coachtopia because we were working quite differently. We weren’t finding new materials we wanted to use; we were using materials that we had, which were literally scraps. I’m designing based on the production waste of Coach’s retail bags. So think of all the iconic Coach bags, the Coach Tabby, the Coach Brooklyn bag; Coachtopia used the scraps from those bags and did something with them.
Instead of a normal design practice where you’re sketching and thinking about the right material, the specific one in your head that’s a pastel pink suede, then you go to a manufacturer and they create that. Here, it was different; we were directly addressing the downstream waste and designing with that in mind. This is where craftsmanship becomes really important. You’re having to make a handbag sell at Coach’s price point, but really to the consumer, it’s waste. How do you transform those leather scraps into something that isn’t viewed as waste or trash but instead something valuable?
These bags were limited edition bags because each one was slightly different. We wouldn’t be able to give you more if you wanted more. Once it’s sold out, it’s done. It was definitely a large shift in designing for me, but I think that materials and craftsmanship really go hand in hand to make a good product. Especially when you’re thinking about circularity because both of those things are important. You want good materials that are not harmful, that last long and that can make a beautiful product. And you need the craftsmanship to really present those materials in the best way.
Can you share a piece that you’ve designed that you feel particularly proud of, the story and inspiration behind it?
It’s quite hard to choose a specific piece that I have designed, and to be completely honest, sometimes I forget about things that I’ve designed until I see them on the street or in person. It’s like, “Oh yeah, I worked on that”. I think I really liked my designs for Coachtopia just as a whole. So far in my career, that has been quite a highlight for me. We approached circularity and sustainability honestly, avoiding any greenwashing. It’s crucial for me to make a positive impact on our climate and environment through design, and I work diligently toward that goal. I try to work as ethically as possible and to know that my work isn’t negatively affecting generations in the future.
What do you mean by circularity?
Circularity is essentially the idea that you’re keeping a product that has been made in a circle where you’re trying to use what already exists and not use raw material. It demands that you always use what already exists as foundation when you begin creating a new product. When you create a new product, how do you design that product to keep it in circulation and constant usage? That can take many different forms of learning how to keep a product in use. One way is to design it in a way that people can easily repair it.
There was a time when you could take a broken toaster to an appliance store, get it repaired, and have it returned to you. You didn’t just buy a new one on Amazon and toss out the old one.
Circularity is building products in a way that they are repairable. This is super important.
We were designing products people could easily repair. You can easily unscrew and replace all of our hardware. You could take our linings apart more easily than a normal handbag. That’s one way of making a bag repairable.
The second approach to achieving circularity involves redesigning a product for a different use. We created a handbag, and the customer has used it for five years, and maybe their aesthetic has changed. In a circular world, you would take that bag, and you could use the leather to create five wallets from that bag. Those materials, all that energy that has been put into creating that leather, raising the cow, all that stuff is energy. And instead of it being wasted in a landfill, once someone says, “I’m tired of this product.” It’s a way of thinking, “How can we get that product back to us and keep it in use?” That is circularity in a nutshell.
We need to change the way we think that everything is disposable and always getting new material to create something new. We literally live in a world where we are practically drowning in trash. It’s important that we flip the way that we look at the materials around us and be open to unorthodox materials and processes.
You’ve successfully transitioned across brands with distinctive identities. What’s the secret to adapting while still maintaining your own creative voice?
I always begin by exploring the company’s archive to understand its foundational brand codes and design ethos. My own personal aesthetic just kind of naturally gets infused into the design. I don’t think I’m ever trying to be like, “I need to put 10% of Trey in this or 20% of Trey in this.” It just automatically happens that when I’m sketching, I create things that are quite unique to me. Those things naturally happen, It’s almost like your fingerprint, you leave it around and you just don’t know you’re doing it.
Having a foundation and understanding of brand codes does not hinder you from being creative and building new ideas. I just think that it makes it easier for a consumer to understand where the brand is going next. With smaller brands, you have more creative freedom due to their less established nature. I like to present more information like what is new, what people are currently wearing out on the street, and what is kind of uptrending in aesthetics to them. Because they’re young and not as established as a company, they’re able to be a little bit more fluid and are able to capitalise on upcoming trends while being able to own new trends.
It’s just like Diane von Furstenberg with the wrap dress that’s now iconic to the brand; she saw a need for something very easy to quickly tie on for a professional. She owned that, it’s not the first dress that has that function, but DVF refined and owned it
What are some of the biggest problems accessory designers face today that the industry doesn’t talk about enough?
In a world where 15-second videos are all we have the capacity for, it’s very hard to figure out what we are making and why we are making it. The largest fashion companies today often play it safe by drawing from their archives and recreating styles that they know have previously sold well. This just shows our economic climate right now. It’s just a cycle. I find it to be quite a scary place for the industry to be in because I just think that if nothing new is being created, what’s the point? And newness that’s impactful newness. Not just newness for the sake of making something, but really to evolve the craft further. I’m just not seeing enough of that. I think that it’s because the quick turn of trends is not a healthy thing for fashion.
When you look back on your career working with all these different brands, what’s one thing you take away?
Every brand has taught me something. Some of the things that were taught weren’t necessarily connected to work, but a work-life balance. When I started, I needed to clarify what I truly wanted to do with my career.
I’ve been able to pull something different from all of my jobs. I can say that I am thankful for all of the experiences, even if they weren’t necessarily all sugar and spice. I was able to say, I know what I don’t want to do. There’s been jobs where I saw how ethically poor they created their product, and because of that, it made me become a circular and sustainable designer. I think that every job has really informed my design practice for the better.
What’s next for Trey Denis?
I’m in a place where I’m manifesting my next opportunity. I’m not sure what it will be, since so far I’ve achieved everything I dreamed of in fashion design. I would also love to explore design more broadly — not just in fashion — but in ways that let me learn and develop new skills. Something like designing car interiors or pushing the boundaries of design as a whole.
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