Member Article

Designer Label Launches in North East

A young student who came to the UK from his native Gambia to better his chances in life has launched a new street fashion brand inspired by his young son.

Lamin Gibba from Heaton in Newcastle settled in the region after meeting his Geordie wife, Danielle in London. The couple now have a two-year-old son, Jackson who inspired his creative dad to develop his own fashion brand.

The distinctive, brightly coloured “Jerry J” t shirts and hoodies are aimed at modern men and women who like to dress in style. The new designer street wear brand gets its name from Lamin’s street name of Jerry and the first initial of Jackson’s name.

Growing up as a teenager in Gambia, Lamin adopted the name Jerry when he started creating rap music. His father was very strict and disagreed with the lyrics contained in the songs that Lamin would sing. To stop his father knowing it was him he created the pseudo name of Jerry.

“Life was very tough in Gambia. I’ve come from Africa with nothing and after working with the Princes Trust and doing a number of business courses, I’ve launched Jerry J,” said Lamin.

“Our brand has a complete range of high-quality designer street wear items including baseball caps, hoodies and tracksuits. I’ve brought a lot of cultural influences from my experiences in Africa. For example, in our tribal t shirt range, the logo of a man climbing a palm tree is symbolic of my home tribe and represents the way many of them make a living by producing palm wine.

Lamin has been given a helping hand by Whitley Bay retailer Scott Glazebrook.

Scott’s fashion shop in the town’s Park View, Hamiedog specialises in selling products by local fashion designers.

“Jerry J is the perfect brand for us to include in our collection and our customers have already commented on how much they love the bright colours and the story behind the evolution of the label,” said Scott.

Scott’s philosophy of helping local designers is echoed in his approach to supporting Whitley Bay businesses. “Whitley Bay is a great town and in Park View is full of independent family run businesses. The area is definitely on the up with the support of our customers who share the Shop Local movement. I’ve taken that a step further by promoting local designers like Lamin and I can predict big things for Jerry J in 2019. I’m thrilled to be part of it,” he said.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Keith Newman .