American Collections Calendar replacing New York Fashion Week. All American designers will be included on the calendar, regardless of where they are showing or collection release date. CFDA created a platform – RUNWAY360.
Tom Ford, chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, sent out a letter to its members saying that the New York Fashion Week show schedule will be renamed the “American Collections Calendar.” He wrote in his letter that “Now more than ever this is one of our primary goals. The world has changed dramatically since 1962 and achieving global brand recognition is key to securing success for American designers… To that end, the show schedule that is released by the CFDA each season will be renamed American Collections Calendar.” These changes do not mean only changes in the name, these changes means that starting from this February 2021, CFDA will announce presentations of the collections all year long, and it would be depends on the designers, and the dates they would like to announce their new collections.
The CFDA has now included all American designers who are showing within the calendar and on Runway360, regardless of location or collection release date. Each of the designers has an exclusive half-hour slot on the schedule, which can be viewed anytime afterward.
This historic decision designed to bring all members of CFDA back, and give them platform to present their collections, view the collections all year long. American designers will give their dates for the presentation of the collection, and will show during periods that will overlap with the fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris, presenting a potential global collision of timeslots.
Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA, said that “The New American Collections Calendar was positively embraced by the industry and the feedback we received commended the CFDA for the fresh approach to scheduling. At the same time, as we knew would be the case, there is a strong group of designers from emerging to established showing officially during New York Fashion Week, which provides the foundation of the American Collections Calendar, and most of them will show through our Runway360 platform. Given the continued challenges due to the pandemic, this will again be a digital season with the majority of the brands releasing their new collections through creative videos and look books… You’ll see some brands returning that haven’t been on a calendar for a while, you’ll see some new brands, you’ll see the continued engagement of more diversity. What’s so powerful about Runway360 is open access. We’re supporting emerging talent, it has global reach, and it’s flexible. You can be a brand that has a budget and makes a movie, or you can get a studio and livestream with no audience, and you can be a brand that asks your friend to come over to your apartment, put them in your clothes and ask a neighbor to shoot a look book… Our mission is to globalize American fashion and to support American designers, big and small, throughout the year, and not just during fashion week. With that in mind, it really made sense to us to look at the market and collections bigger than just New York Fashion Week. That’s where we came up with Tom’s letter, and ‘American Collections,’ and that approach moving forward.”
As reported, IMG, which owns NYFW: The Shows, will be using Spring Studios as the central location of activity. IMG plans to support designers with opportunities such as live-to-tape runway shows, content and look book shoots, panel discussions, talks, social activations and e-commerce, viewable at NYFW.com.
Several major New York designers such as Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Brandon Maxwell, Tommy Hilfiger, Christopher John Rogers, Pyer Moss and Tory Burch aren’t included on the “American Collections Calendar” calendar. At the present time these designers decided to stay apart and organize their own private sales on their own web-sites or wholesales platforms.
With the industry’s needs and subsequent strategies changing, the CFDA is proud to present the inaugural American Collections Calendar, which includes all American designers wherever or however they choose to show. New York Fashion Week provides the core of this new calendar.
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