New York Fashion Week opens the season of global fashion weeks. Its purpose is for designers to show their upcoming collections, for press to review it and for buyers to place orders. Many American designers will continue to take orders from buyers in London, Milan and Paris. These collections are then delivered to stores and available for consumers to buy four to six months later.
In recent years, evolutions in technology, consumer behaviors and needs, weather and physical seasons, and retail have challenged the role and impact of the current Fashion System:
As the organization representing American designers and the organizer of the official New York Fashion Week schedule, it is CFDA’s responsibility to evaluate the purpose of New York Fashion Week. The intent of the CFDA study undertaken with The Boston Consulting Group in January was to question the status quo for our market, stimulate a dialogue in the American fashion industry and move towards long-term solutions together.
TODAY, THE CFDA IS PROUD TO UNVEIL THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY.
The unanimous consensus among our interviewees: the time is ripe for change in our market. ‘In-season relevancy’ emerged as a recurring idea. Beyond fashion shows, the delivery cycle and subsequent markdown cadence at retail emerged as a critical issue that needs to be addressed in our market to better match the actual, physical season and our consumers’ behaviors and needs. CFDA highlighted the statistics and exhibits here and answered the most frequently asked questions here.