This is Connecting the Dots, a series in which writer José Criales-Unzueta looks at how fashion, pop culture, the internet and society are all interconnected.
The biggest topic of conversation at New York Fashion Week this season was money: who has it, who doesn’t, who is making some and who could use more.
A few years ago, when I was a starry-eyed fashion student at Savannah College of Art and Design, professors, visiting designers and industry folk would wax poetic about the ways a young designer could become the next American fashion giant. Origin stories of the current upper echelon were cited often (Ralph Lauren selling ties out of the trunk of his car is a favourite).
But the world, the city and the industry have changed. New York has the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and designers can look for assistance through the Council of Fashion Designers of America, but it does not have a platform or ongoing seasonal support that London’s Fashion East or Shanghai’s Labelhood provide. There is no Sarabande Foundation supporting designers, and none of the giants that could equate to Dolce & Gabbana in Italy are supporting independent labels the way the brand does each season.
Building a business here is hard, and the models of then don’t necessarily apply to now. Even still, there is a crop of designers in New York, emerging, independent or both, who are making it work and whose businesses exist, in part, because they are based in the city. I spoke to some of them about what they’re doing to stick around, what’s working for them, and what isn’t, in the hopes of identifying the next-gen playbooks to become the new American fashion It-brands. These models are not prescriptive, but they shine a light on what it takes to run a brand in New York City today.
Playbook #1: Nobody puts DTC in a corner
Key players: Collina Strada, LaQuan Smith, Tanner Fletcher, Eckhaus Latta, Sandy Liang
Fifteen years ago, wholesale was the whole game. The pandemic and its effects on the industry exposed the flaws in this method, and designers in New York started to look inwards. Every season, more independent brands in the city offer pre-orders to supplement their wholesale orders and to find the cash to fund internal buys for their own e-commerce sites. Now, new designers are making sure to launch their businesses with DTC (direct-to-consumer) channels, no matter how small — Interior NYC or Jane Wade spring to mind.
How to do it: DTC and wholesale should work in tandem. Designer and founder of Collina Strada Hillary Taymour says she starts with the wholesale buy and then buys 10 per cent of the order for her DTC channels, meaning there’s some market validation to what she ends up selling on the site. Her channels also let her test products, learn how to market them and see what does and doesn’t work for the customer.
“In the past, many independent brands have relied on retail partners to get the brand off the ground,” say Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasell of Tanner Fletcher. “While this is still a large part of our growth strategy, the retailers themselves are often going through a tough time, and they cannot be relied on as much as they used to be.” The design duo currently has an even split between DTC and wholesale, and they say that balancing DTC has been important in terms of controlling the image of their brand and building a direct relationship with their audience while also receiving direct feedback about what works and what doesn’t.
Having available stock also allows designers to do PR gifting, or have more options for stylists in terms of sizing, adds Taymour. The next level here is to start offering exclusives, which, she says, are often small buys of styles she really believes in that are not available elsewhere. “Your goal as a small business or brand should be that you’re always your biggest buyer,” Taymour says.
Challenges: DTC requires a healthy enough cash flow for a designer to be able to buy inventory. Marketing costs can also add up, as well as logistics. Taymour has an employee whose role is to fulfil orders, while Richie and Kasell run the operation themselves.
Playbook #2: Collaborations, sponsorships and brand partnerships
Key players: Collina Strada, KidSuper, Luar, Telfar, Sandy Liang
Have you ever sat at a show and noticed a little goodie bag? Odds are that whoever is sponsoring the show left something behind to mark their territory. Mac Cosmetics was a big one this NYFW, appearing at Wiederhoeft and Luar, while Tresemmé left goodies at LaQuan Smith. Colm Dillane of KidSuper opened a 10,000-square-foot store in Williamsburg this season with assists from Canada Goose, Lovesac, Jaggermeister and job platform Creatively.
Collina Strada has collaborated with everyone from Gucci and Levi’s to Uggs, Vans and Canada Goose. Taymour says that she’s built her brand in a way that allows her to explore partnerships. “Collina Strada is a ‘vibe’ brand because it has a presence and a clear idea. By doing that, I have enabled myself to fit into other corporation’s niche products and provide my own stamp on those products. The point is to work with these brands to make accessible designer products that people want and can afford. It broadens my customer base massively.”
How to do it: When it comes to collaborations, the idea is to find a partner that fits your brand ethos, and who is willing to play ball and allow you to keep creative control where it matters. Taymour likes to ask for creative control of campaign images so they are aligned with her own creative for Collina Strada, that way the image of her brand doesn’t get watered down and its integrity — which makes it appealing to other sponsors and partners — remains untouched. She also recommends negotiating a proper design fee, prioritising a proper fee over only royalties. “Many brands do these collabs for marketing purposes, so sometimes they don’t even invest in units,” she says. “If you make it about royalties, then you’re likely selling yourself short.” Taymour will also often negotiate a certain amount of units to sell DTC where it makes sense for her own channel.
Challenges: Collaborations can arrive with a lot of compromises or take too long to come out. They’re also not the biggest money-making opportunities unless you negotiate a worthwhile design fee — some can start at around $10,000 for a design fee without royalties or go as high as $100,000 depending on the scope of the project, timeline and the terms of usage of the product. Taymour believes that the key is to not become dependent on partnerships. Creative control is crucial, as is storytelling. Aligning with brands in a way that makes sense for your brand is the most important. Case in point, when Taymour worked with Canada Goose, she made a jacket that was 100 per cent vegan.
Playbook #3: Hype first, business second
Key players: Christopher John Rogers, Bode, Wiederhoeft, LaQuan Smith
I first heard of Jackson Wiederhoeft when he outfitted Lady Gaga for her ‘Stupid Love’ music video in February 2020. He had presented his debut collection the very same month, following some time working at Thom Browne. More editorial and celebrity placements followed though one could not actually purchase Wiederhoeft yet, bar made-to-measure or custom orders. It is not rare for a designer to become “a name” and garner the public’s attention before they establish an actual business. If anything, this used to be considered ideal — get your name out there, and the money will follow. Wiederhoeft took the hype and continued to launch collections, his business percolating in the background. A few years and a whole pandemic later, he has developed a robust bridal collection, a respectable made-to-measure business and a budding wholesale ready-to-wear line.
How to do it: The first step here is to find a “moment”, which is in many cases a celebrity placement. Most of these designers now leverage social media to put their brands in front of stylists and editors or will cold email lookbooks to stylists to offer available pieces. It’s half waiting game and half luck, but once the first happens, it’s easier to get the ball rolling. Wiederhoeft gained traction on social media, posting his initial collections. “They were small, low-cost, tight collections,” he said, the first of which he wasn’t even planning on selling. The second, he developed and priced, but says it still wasn’t quite there. Still, he got a Lady Gaga placement out of the line-up.
The next step is to leverage the attention. Wiederhoeft says that he hadn’t had any luck selling his ready-to-wear but that he had received feedback about starting a bridal line. He did just that and was able to harness the hype and redirect it into his bridal business, something he still does today. “Doing ready-to-wear is a strong building exercise for these clients who don’t just want a bridal brand,” says the designer. “It’s the equity of saying that a look was on the runway or that someone like Julia Fox just wore it. Even if we aren’t a huge name, the fact that it exists in the cultural space is good for our business.”
Challenges: Wiederhoeft had gotten attention, but, as he told me, commissions and VIPs don’t pay the bills. The riddle was how to translate this into a business. Folks had told him after his first collections that the product would make good bridalwear, so he decided to work on a collection. It landed his first Vogue write-up — and flourished into a robust business.
Playbook #4: Stealth mode
Key players: Diotima, Zankov, Sandy Liang
Not everyone makes red carpet or album cover-ready clothes. I first met Henry Zankov, a runner-up of the 2023 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, years ago through a mutual friend. He had recently launched his now insider-favourite knitwear label, Zankov, with a couple of really great sweaters. He was in no rush to get his name out there; rather, he was focused on making a couple of covetable pieces that would launch straight into stores and into someone’s closet. After a few years of running his business in stealth mode, he started doing presentations during NYFW, getting reviewed by Vogue Runway, and finding his way to a couple of organic celebrity placements.
How to do it: Zankov says that for him, it was about establishing a visual language for his brand before opening himself up to outsider reactions. “It was more important to me to hone an individual language, the quality and the silhouettes before anyone started to wear it,” he says. But starting in stealth mode is tough because the visibility oftentimes means that there’s less immediate money coming in. Zankov used personal funding as he grew his DTC channel slowly. The cash flow allowed him to produce more work, and he sustained himself by teaching part-time alongside freelancing for other designers. “That helped me live and take my time,” he says, “when you don’t have another job, you have a feeling of urgency to make money, and that pressure isn’t always great for you creatively.”
Challenges: Zankov used to host private press days and showrooms for people to shop, and would also work to spread the word of mouth through friends and friends of friends. He had to keep his day job and freelance gigs at the beginning, using his DTC income to generate more product. Building in stealth mode requires more patience and time than most designers have or would like to employ.
Playbook #5: The side hustle
Key players: Tanner Fletcher, Wiederhoeft, Sandy Liang
The good old side project. Supplementing the mainline of your business with an additional channel that can provide a healthy cash flow. When Zankov found himself with a slow-moving DTC channel after launching his business right before the pandemic, he made pillows out of discarded knit developments, which, he says, provided him income throughout those rough months. Wiederhoeft launched a bridal collection after his first two collections were not picked up by wholesalers, which has now become a robust part of his business. Tanner Fletcher now has a “Vintage” vertical on its website, selling vintage finds curated by the designers themselves. “The more ways for our audience to interact with the brand, the more pathways we as a brand have to success,” say Richie and Kasell.
How to do it: In the case of Tanner Fletcher’s vintage category, the carefully curated knick knacks are sourced by the designers, as they shop for personal projects or scout inspiration for their collections, and sold through their website. Plus, considering they often thrift them or find them at flea markets or estate sales, they have a pretty good margin. As for bridal, Kasell and Richie currently offer a few ready-to-wear pieces as bridal on their website but will launch a full collection in April that will also be offered made-to-measure. “You must find other areas of growth and reasons for people to shop with you directly. This nurtures our relationship with and provides access to our aspirational customers as well as adds value for our main customers. More than just designing clothes and maintaining relationships with retailers, we’ve found that we must be tastemakers. Our vision transcends clothing alone,” the pair say.
Wiederhoeft works on bridal with the standard made-to-measure system. “It means that we can collect deposits; we do 50 per cent on the order and 50 per cent on delivery,” the designer says. “It’s a convenient cash flow system. If I do take stock on an item, with bridal, it’s completely seasonless, unlike RTW. The profit margin in bridal is also really advantageous, generally speaking.”
Challenges: These categories are more niche and, in the case of Tanner Fletcher’s vintage category, harder to scale. In terms of bridal, the system is oftentimes more traditional and comes with certain expectations. Kasell and Richie are eyeing a studio where they can host appointments, which Wiederhoeft says was crucial for him to be successful in this space. It’s also important to balance the ready-to-wear aspect of the business with the adjacent category so one doesn’t overtake the other in the public’s perception.
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