The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) hosted the 2025 American Image Awards on Tuesday evening in New York City, and the industry gathered to celebrate leaders and advocates across the apparel and footwear industries, including CFDA member Ulla Johnson as Designer of the Year.

The evening also marked the ninth consecutive year that the CFDA Foundation served as the event’s longstanding charitable beneficiary, and the program spotlighted Laura Weber of LW Pearl, a two-time Fashion Manufacturing Initiative grant recipient who spoke about the critical impact of CFDA’s support on American manufacturing.

Emceed by Bloomberg’s Chief Markets Correspondent Scarlet Fu, other honorees included Target as Retailer of the Year, accepted by Bill Foudy, Senior Vice President and President of Owned Brands; American Textile Company as Company of the Year, accepted by Lance Ruttenberg, President and CEO; Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, President of Pensole Lewis College as Fashion Maverick; Katherine Gold, President and CEO of GoldBug as Trailblazer, and Apparel Impact Institute as Eco-Steward of the Year, accepted by President Lewis Perkins.

CFDA rallied fellow members Reem Acra, Bibhu Mohapatra, Cynthia Rowley, Aisling Camps, John Bartlett, Ruthie Davis, and Emily Smith to join the evening’s celebrations along with many of our fashion friends, including Jameel Mohammed, recipient of the first-ever CFDA x Tiffany & Co. Jewelry Designer Award, the 2025 CFDA | Genesis House AAPI Design + Innovation Grant winner Olivia Cheng, Kim Shui, Kate Barton, Jane Wade, Kozaburo Akasaka, Brandice Daniel of Harlem’s Fashion Row and Paper Magazine fashion editor Andrew Nguyen.

“We offer enormous thanks all those who attended the American Image Awards for the support to the CFDA Foundation and our crucial partnership with AAFA,” said Steven Kolb, CEO, CFDA. “Through the Foundation, we are able to advance support of important work on behalf of the American fashion industry, including local manufacturing, business grants, scholarships, and DEI programming.”

“As we face a challenging time for our industry, the 2025 American Image Awards is a powerful reminder of why we remain optimistic,” said Steve Lamar, president and CEO of AAFA. “The honorees we celebrate tonight embody the creativity, resilience, and vision that continue to push us forward. This year has already tested us in new ways, but it’s clear that unity and diversity—across people, ideas, and approaches—are what will drive us through. Our 2025 American Image Award honorees show exactly why our industry will not just endure but thrive.”

Congratulations to all the honorees!