DRIFT is an independent New York publication covering fashion, footwear, art, design, music and the people shaping contemporary culture. This page sets out who is responsible for the work.
Editor
Paul Jean founded DRIFT and edits the publication. He selects what DRIFT covers, reviews and corrects every piece before it is published, and is accountable for what appears here.
His training is in the physical sciences — an associate’s from Nassau Community College and a bachelor’s from Queens College, both in New York — and he is currently completing a master’s in business at New York Institute of Technology on fellowship. That background shapes how DRIFT reads a release: an interest in how an object is actually made, specified, priced and distributed, rather than only how it looks in a photo. A collision is a supply chain and a set of decisions before it is an image.
Corrections, questions and story proposals reach him through the contact page.
Contributors
DRIFT works with contributors on subject selection, research and reporting. Where a contributor shapes a piece, they are credited by name on it. Where their contribution is to the idea rather than the text, the piece carries a reporting credit instead. DRIFT does not attach bylines to work a person did not do.
How DRIFT is made
DRIFT selects subjects editorially, on cultural and design significance rather than search demand. Drafts may be produced with AI tools. Every piece is then reviewed by a DRIFT editor against primary sources — checked, corrected, cut, and in some cases rejected outright — before it is published. AI output is never treated as a source, and nothing is published unreviewed.
Editorial responsibility rests with DRIFT in every case. The full editorial standards cover verification, sourcing, corrections and independence.
Bylines
Centrally produced and edited stories carry the publication as the byline. Named bylines are reserved for reviews, features, interviews and original reporting, where an identifiable person did distinctive work. This keeps a byline meaningful rather than decorative.
Indie
DRIFT is independently operated. Access, samples, invitations or commercial relationships do not guarantee coverage or a favourable conclusion. Paid or sponsored material is identified clearly wherever it appears.