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From Karoline Vitto’s Milan moment and Duran Lantink’s Paris debut, to Ashley Williams’s return to the London runway and Wiederhoeft’s sophomore show at NYFW, some of the most notable shows from young designers this season wouldn’t have happened without the help of sponsorships. However, as the macro-economic climate continues to challenge both brands and potential sponsors, financial support is getting harder to come by.
Some of the bigger, more traditional sponsors — such as beauty brands, payment service providers and car companies — are rethinking their approach to fashion week partnerships. Under intense industry pressure to show (and keep showing) in order to attract press and buyer attention, young brands often have to cobble together five or six show sponsors, from hair and beauty to drinks, technology and footwear, in order to keep up. Increasingly, they’re collaborating with unlikely companies to make ends meet.
Wiederhoeft collaborated with Hendricks to create tiny outfits for its gin bottles, which helped fund his show. New York label Collina Strada partnered with Cheetos on a bag for Spring/Summer 2024, which helped fund its show. A swathe of London designers including Chet Lo and newcomer Aaron Esh used money from a SmartWater advert featuring their designs, to finance their runways. Unexpected industry tie-ups aren’t new — Pornhub supported New York designer Luis de Javier’s debut for AW23 and Paris designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s show and afterparty for SS22; while Richard Quinn’s AW20 show and afterparty was sponsored by toothpaste brand Colgate — but they are becoming more common as designers grapple with rising costs.
“It’s no secret that once designers ‘graduate’ [from] incubators like Fashion East or NewGen, they can essentially find themselves living season-to-season. It’s always been that ‘in-between’ stage of growth that’s make-or-break, and of course now that’s where the pressure’s being felt by the changes in the sponsorship landscape,” says Sophie Jewes, co-founder and creative director of agency Raven, which represents Vitto and incubator Fashion East, among bigger brands like Farfetch. There’s been a shift in beauty sponsorships in particular, she notes. “Ten years ago, I was working with independent designers who could cover the entirety of their £70,000+ show budgets through hair and make-up sponsorships alone. Beauty brands just don’t invest like that now — viewed from a certain angle it’s surprising, given the industry’s fixation on content.”
It’s not just individual designers’ shows; headline sponsors have long been critical to putting on entire fashion weeks — covering costs and enabling fashion councils to waive participation fees for designers. But, here too, it seems the money is beginning to dry up.
From 2021 to 2023, Afterpay was the title sponsor of Australian Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week, but the company didn’t renew its contract for future seasons. VP of marketing Natalie McGrath says only that the company “leaves with the industry in a place of strength”, without elaborating on the decision. The British Fashion Council may no longer be able to offer cars to press and buyers next season because its car sponsor, Mercedes-Benz, pulled out before the pandemic and it hasn’t yet found a new one. Meanwhile, key sponsors like Mac and L’Oréal went beyond just sponsorship and held their own shows this season, creating strong conversion and social media reaction. It signals a shift as beauty brands find ways to host their own moments during fashion week.
Fashion — a $1.8 trillion industry according to market research firm Euromonitor — is not as glamorous behind the scenes as fashion month would give off, and cracks are beginning to show. As the industry consolidates further into one dominated by megabrands, emerging designers can feel like they’re grabbing at crumbs. Why is it so hard to secure sponsors for runway shows? And what happens if that money goes away?
Funding emerging talents
When Fashion East alumnus Supriya Lele was planning her solo debut at London Fashion Week after a break last season, approaching and securing sponsorship from Bentley Motors was the only way she could show. “[Without a sponsor] we would have to rethink the format of how we would showcase the collection,” she says. “Due to the costs of designing a line from the team to materials, and the costs attached to producing a powerful show from the venue, models, makeup artists and lots more, it just isn't possible to pull off without some support,” Lele says.
However, for young brands, relying entirely on sponsor support can prove tricky. Lantink, who made his official debut in Paris this season in a show sponsored by Mac and other companies, explained that often sponsorship money takes 90 days to come through, while models or makeup artists need to be paid immediately. And, as Lele puts it, there’s also the risk of creative differences.
“There are always worries when working with sponsors, will they understand my vision? Will they be happy? Is there a mutual understanding of what we are trying to achieve and most importantly how much time do we have to work together?” Lele says. “I prefer to look at my sponsors in a more long-term perspective. There are so many ways that brands — designers especially — from different industries can come together.”
Multiyear or multi-season deals offer young labels security, which is useful when they’re trying to get off the ground, experts agree. Australian Fashion Week was the first market to come back after the pandemic and Afterpay was a “huge support” in making sure the event could continue to support designers, says Kim Fasting Berg, EVP of marketing at WME, the parent company of Australian Fashion Week organiser IMG (which also runs NYFW:The Shows, part of New York Fashion Week). With the Afterpay sponsorship, AFW waived participation fees for designers to join the schedule. “But, as you know, sponsors come and go. What makes a wonderful partnership is when everybody comes to the table with an understanding of how we can all help to elevate the experience.”
IMG announced last week that government tourism organisation Destination NSW, a longstanding partner of AFW, will sponsor the next event, taking place in May 2024, with the support of the New South Wales Government. It was hanging in the balance, but with this new deal, AFW will once again be able to waive designer fees.
London Fashion Week has had a lot of partners over the years, including Canon, Clearpay, Diet Coke, Etihad Airways, Evening Standard, Lavazza, Mac, Maybelline, Mercedes, Sunglasses Hut, Swatch, hotel The Mayfair, Toni & Guy, Topshop and Vodafone. Most recently, LFW partnered with Chambord, FabriX, Getty, hotel The Londoner and whisky brand Royal Salute to deliver SS24.
“Multi-year partnerships have the greatest success and strongest impact because the longevity allows the collaboration to grow and evolve according to our own strategy for LFW, consumer habits and the partner’s objectives,” says BFC CEO Caroline Rush. “Change and innovation is a constant and this is also true for brands who align with LFW. We understand why strategies change, and we evolve to be a part of these journeys.”
Car sponsors shift gears
Over the last decade, automotive companies were the main sponsors of fashion weeks across the globe. However, their goals are now shifting away from chauffeuring or whole-event sponsorship to focus on emerging talent.
As part of its sponsorship, Bentley chauffeured guests to Supriya Lele’s show, but this wasn’t the central tenet of the partnership. Lele also visited Bentley’s factory in Crewe, UK, and selected upholstery offcuts, which she turned into pieces in her SS24 collection. The collaboration is part of ongoing activity at Bentley to support emerging talents across industries, says Wayne Bruce, chief communications and D&I officer at Bentley Motors.
“Automotive brands have always traditionally had a presence during fashion weeks through chauffeuring, but we were keen to take this a step further this year. We know it’s important to tap into other industries and reach our audiences by being present in their world and other passions,” he says. “Working with a designer with whom we shared mutual design values and principles allowed us to have a more authentic and meaningful presence within the world of fashion. For offcuts from our production to be used to do so is impactful for our brand.” The collaboration was well received, and Bentley would “certainly look” at similar opportunities with the right designers and talents in the future, he adds.
Back when IMG controlled more of New York Fashion Week, it would regularly sign car deals to sponsor the event. Showgoers at Bryant Park venue would often see a new-model Mercedes car routinely parked at the entrance. Mercedes-Benz even encouraged the press to call NYFW “Mercedes Benz Fashion Week”, with limited success. Mercedes dropped its sponsorship of NYFW in 2015, and a number of other car sponsors came along for a season or two, including Lexus and Cadillac, but they failed to stick for more than a few seasons. Some editors across cities are offered private cars by chauffeur services like Blacklane. But, for the most part, they either do a sponsorship deal of their own as individual publications or commute of their own accord.
After its NYFW sponsorship ended, like Bentley, Mercedes-Benz turned its attention to emerging talents, in sponsoring small international fashion weeks and events across the world, rather than the big four. Before lockdown, Mercedes-Benz sponsored (and named) fashion weeks in Berlin, Istanbul and Sydney. Now, the automotive player sponsors small fashion weeks including Prague, Mexico, Madrid and Tbilisi as well as sponsoring the Mercedes-Benz Sustainability Prize at French fashion festival Hyères, centred on emerging talents, which took place last week. Mercedes-Benz also partnered with Moncler on its huge Mondogenius event during London Fashion Week for AW23.
Mercedes-Benz’s international fashion week partnerships have “evolved in line with the shifts in the fashion landscape”, says Julia Hofmann, head of branded entertainment and brand partnerships at Mercedes-Benz AG. “Both, collaborations and emerging talent support, offer ‘X-factor moments’ and create inspirational launches, which have a pivotal role in our strategic evolvement to reach broader audiences.”
Where’s the money?
The question remains, who should fund fashion week? Afterpay says while it won’t sponsor whole events in the near future, it will continue to work with individual brands, as it’s done previously with the likes of LaQuan Smith, Roksanda, Richard Quinn and Kim Shui. And some major luxury labels also understand the need to support the next generation: Dolce & Gabbana has now supported both Vitto and emerging designer Tomo Koizumi (AW23) to show in Milan. While Valentino and Italy’s governing fashion body CNMI supported Marco Rambaldi to show for AW22.
In London and New York, there are fewer megabrands to lend a hand, so other players need to step in, says WME’s Fasting Berg. “In addition to bringing on sponsors to support New York Fashion Week and Australian Fashion Week, we have also brought brand partnerships to designers themselves,” she says. “The US is different to Europe, in New York, we have a lot of independent designers and they need support. We have put a number of different programmes in place in order to do that.” IMG says it has secured a total of $20 million in funding for independent brands, via sponsorships and its partnership with the Black in Fashion Council and other IMG initiatives including IMG Fashion Alliance, NYFW Small Business Grant in partnership, and Big Motion presented by UPS in partnership with NYFW: The Shows.
Government organisations can help too. All fashion councils are part-funded by governments, but few fashion weeks are sponsored directly and publicly by government organisations. In addition to Australia Fashion Week sponsor Destination NSW, in Paris, one of the key fashion week sponsors is governmental organisation Le DEFI, which reinvests tax from clothing collected in the country, into supporting the fashion industry and its young designers.
While the US government doesn’t sponsor NYFW, for SS23, IMG partnered with the Empire State Development to award 10 independent New York designers funding through a $500,000 fashion week small business grant. It also worked with the state of New York to provide designers with complimentary access to iconic New York show venues. “We are finding government support and we continue those conversations,” says Fasting Berg. “We may have some new interesting moments coming out for February as well.”
Despite their high saturation in Paris and Milan, luxury conglomerates don't typically sponsor entire fashion weeks or support emerging brands for multiple seasons. “I don't understand why huge conglomerates wouldn’t [fund fashion week],” fashion commentator Alexandra Hildreth says. “It’s actually in their complete vested interest with the amount of brands that they own anyways. If mean LVMH sponsored a fashion week for example, they own so many of the [major] brands and their liquor would also be at every show. It actually would be a very well-rounded marketing opportunity.”
Christina Binkley contributed reporting to this story.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
Update: This story was updated to include that Mercedes-Benz sponsors a selection of small international fashion weeks.
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