An important aspect of fashion is discovery, with exciting new designers coming up almost every fashion season. How to develop these emerging talents from buzz to business is an important step, which many recognize, among them Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 2021, the luxury retailer launched The New Wave at Saks Emerging Designer Accelerator Program to develop, support, and nurture independent brands by hastening their growth at Saks. With a total of eight brands, of which four will always be BIPOC-owned, the program comes with such activations as an onboarding bootcamp, mentorship matching, and entrepreneurial workshops. Each of the eight brands is also eligible to receive a $10,000 grant towards their business.

“This program is one of the many ways that Saks nurtures and develops emerging talent. Our merchant team is obsessed with finding new brands and helping them grow at Saks,” said Anna Tolosa Irving, SVP/GMM of Women’s Designer RTW at Saks. “The structure and resources built into the New Wave program empowers these high-potential designers to grow not only at Saks but across the greater fashion industry.”

The inaugural class, which just ended the first edition of the program, featured talents we love and who are friends of the CFDA, including CFDA members LaQuan Smith and Alejandra Alonso Rojas; ; 2019 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runner-up award recipient Reese Cooper; Harlem’s Fashion Row’s Kimberly Goldson, and Ashya by Ashley Cimone and Moya Annece, who were also part of our 2018-2019 Elaine Gold Launch Pad with the Accessories Council. A.W.A.K.E. Mode by Natalia Alaverdian, Busayo by Busayo Olupona, and BruceGlen by Bruce and Glen Proctor were also part of the launch edition.

The inaugural crop graduated from the program last week, and to mark the completion , we checked in with three of the brands.

“It was an incredible honor to be selected to participate in this exciting initiative and I am so thankful to the entire Saks team,” Alejandra Alonso Rojas said. “I think my highlight was getting to know the other designers and seeing the passion and attention to detail all teams involved poured into this program.

“Learning how a luxury retailer operates in such a close way makes all the difference,” Alonso Rojas added. “I am now more aware, engaged and excited to start applying the tools I was provided with to my relationship with Saks as well as other retail partners. Every single workshop was helpful and informative, and I will always treasure them. This experience has not changed my perspective but has reinforced my conviction that I am taking the right steps in the industry, and I am so looking forward to what’s next!

Bruce and Glen Proctor of BruceGlen echoed the sentiments: “We are so grateful for this invaluable mentorship and the opportunity to connect and build a sense of community with designers in the same boat that we are. We gained a “tribe” – a group of like-minded peers that we could depend on, support and be supported by. The $10,000 grant toward our business only made the experience sweeter.

There were a lot of very practical things that we learned throughout the New Wave program but the most memorable bit of information came from the Q&A session with Thom Browne. He encouraged us to be unapologetically ourselves and that others would eventually catch on. It was so liberating to hear that from such a well-known designer who can talk the talk because he’s walked the walk.”

Busayo Olupona of Busayo too noted that the advice from established designers has been invaluable.

“Everyone from Thom Browne, Jonathan Simkhai, Jesse Randall and Brian Murphy from Loeffler Randall, Jason Wu and Dr. Barbara Sturm displayed an openness and vulnerability that was so helpful and refreshing,” Olupona said. “I’ve had the opportunity to continue conversations and build relationships with some of the designers beyond the program. Their generosity and wisdom have been an invaluable resource for my business.

The session with Jonathan Simkhai was incredibly helpful in learning how to navigate and take on the complexities of scaling your business and bringing it to the next level. In our conversation with Jason Wu, he stressed the importance of diversification of lines of business and not being afraid to explore multiple streams of income under the same brand.”

Tolosa Irving of Saks called the wide range of learning and engagement opportunities for the designers “definitely a highlight of this year’s program.”

“We hosted an Onboarding Bootcamp with sessions led by Saks executives on logistics, digital, marketing and business analytics and partnered with consulting firm Launch Collective to run small business workshops on supply chain, branding and finance,” she explained. “We held exclusive Q&A sessions with Thom Browne, Jason Wu and Jonathan Simkhai and implemented important partnerships with NuORDER, Skypad and Mastercard Digital Doors services. It was great to see the designers learn and acquire skills to improve their businesses through these opportunities. Another highlight was the 360-degree marketing campaign we rolled out in celebration of the program. We featured the New Wave designers in our iconic Fifth Avenue windows and across our digital channels. It was a great moment to see the program come to life and show our support for these emerging designers in a big way.”

As for the future, Tolosa Irving said, “The designers expressed an interest in developing a deeper connection with each other to foster more idea-sharing, so for next year’s program we have mapped out a series of in-person gatherings for participants. We also plan to streamline eligibility to ensure next year’s designers are at a similar stage of growth so we can tailor the workshops and learning opportunities to better suit their collective needs. We will also offer gratis Launch Collective private consulting hours for each brand, to ensure they receive expertise where they need it most.”