There are certain things the fashion industry will always love: The young and beautiful. Art and money. Nostalgia. A comeback. From time to time, it also loves to throw itself behind a cause.

By those metrics, Dan Colen is giving fashion a lot to love right now. A blue-chip artist represented by the mega-gallery Gagosian, he co-founded a farm called Sky High that donates 100% of its food to pantries in upstate New York. But 20 years ago, Colen, 44, was a main character in a cast of beautiful broken boys (nicknamed Warhol’s Children) who became the art world protagonists of New York City’s peak indie sleaze moment — an era for which fashion is throbbing with longing.

Among the infamous work from that time were the “hamster nests” Colen created with Dash Snow, with whom he did copious amounts of drugs. Now, in addition to the farm, Colen is the chief creative officer of Sky High Farm Universe, which sells merchandise and can be found on many fashion hounds who wear luxury brands.

The Sky High Farm Universe logo features a girlish strawberry sitting on a boyish crescent moon, which serves as the common thread across a host of Sky High Farm Universe items spanning hoodies, T-shirts, knits, socks, hats and underwear. Some pieces are classic, like a denim chore jacket. Much of the collection is made from deadstock or upcycled materials. All of it is standard streetwear fare, ranging from $30 to $2,500 and sold at places like Ssense, Nordstrom and Dover Street Market.

The collection is “cute,” said Olivia Kim, the senior vice president for creative merchandising at Nordstrom. “It’s cool. But then there’s naturally the inquisitiveness of ‘Why is this called Sky High Farm Universe?’ There’s the automatic question of ‘What does this actually mean? Who’s behind this?’ ”

Sky High is an earnest operation on a 40-acre property in the Hudson Valley of New York, fueled by a mission of “food sovereignty,” which boils down to people growing and eating fresh, locally produced food, but which, in its founders’ telling, is also a lofty vision tackling philanthropy, capitalism, climate change, social justice and education.

“It’s really a model,” said Colen, now sober and prone to sweeping philosophical answers and big ideas. “We’re trying to support the next generation of farmers who farm in the way that we do so that everybody can eat the kind of food that we grow.”

Colen bought the land on a quest to get out of New York City and “commune with nature.” He was also looking for more space to create art.

“I had no relationships in agriculture,” he said. “It became clear that if I was going to have an intimate relationship with this place, I was going to have to cultivate it.”

Sky High Farm Universe is a separate LLC accounting for all the clothing, accessories, food, beverage and beauty projects, and collaborations. It operates like a traditional for-profit company, except that a portion of profits is donated back to the farm. “Every customer is a donor” is its tagline.

Colen and his team come up with the designs, while Dover Street Market Paris handles production, sales and distribution as part of its brand agency.

Like the strawberry to the moon, the fashion and art worlds have curled up tight on Sky High’s lap. Since Sky High Farm Universe’s inception in 2022, it has done $5.5 million in sales and is now available at 60 retailers. It has attracted a roster of in-crowd collaborators, including Samira Nasr, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar; Alastair McKimm, the stylist and former editor-in-chief of i-D; Mel Ottenberg, the editor-in-chief of Interview; photographers Quil Lemons and his old friend Ryan McGinley; and Heidi Bivens, the costume designer for “Euphoria.”

Balenciaga, Bogs, Dickies and Denim Tears have teamed up with the company. There’s also an ongoing collaboration with Converse that includes Sky High Chuck Taylors, as well as with Nike and artist KAWS. Last year, Sky High introduced its first beverage, a Honey Pop gluten-free, probiotic sparkling water produced by FedUp Foods that was sold at Erewhon. This month, Sky High ventures into beauty with a hand cream in collaboration with the clean beauty brand and fellow farm owner Tata Harper.

On a tour of Sky High Farm’s grounds in late February, nothing was growing in the dead of winter. About 1 1/2 acres is devoted to vegetable production, with 25 more as pasture for cows, sheep and chickens.

Colen’s home, where he lives with his partner, artist and model Lexie Smith, and their young son, sits at the end of a driveway near a renovated barn that houses his art studio.

The beginning of the farm was a blur. Colen called a graphic designer named Jordan Rosenblum who had done an internship at a farm. Rosenblum introduced Colen to the concept of food deserts, meaning places where there is no access to fresh, nutritious food — places like the Bronx. Colen grew up just across the Hudson River in Leonia, New Jersey.

“As somebody who loves to create things, the idea that I could create a tool to serve this issue seemed really fascinating to me,” Colen said.

Through his art studio he found an actual farmer, Joey Piecuch, a fellow recovering heroin addict, who moved to Sky High and got to tilling the land and raising livestock. He and Colen came up with the farm’s name. “It was a bit of a joke,” Colen said. “We were two junkies who were kind of doing this very kind, benevolent work.”

From the beginning, Colen did not want the farm to be a traditional business. Instead of selling its bounty, the farm would give it all away. He enlisted his childhood friend Joshua Bardfield, who worked extensively in public health. They started working with the Food Bank for New York City. “There was no budget. There was no plan,” Colen said. “Nothing was papered.”

Sky High Farm is in the process of moving from the 40-acre plot in Pine Plains to a 560-acre spread a few miles away. There’s room for bigger pastures, more vegetable production, 40 acres for a farm business incubator and a lot of land.

Over the years, people have often asked Colen how he has been able to pull this whole thing off.

“I made it using my art brain,” he said. “As an artist, really, it’s hard to actually pursue this, but in theory, what I want to make, nobody would ever know was art.”