CFDA announces first Men’s New York Fashion Week

Event expected to follow a series of month-long men’s fashion shows in London, Milan and Paris.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) would be organising a men’s fashion week in New York for the first time later in July this year, reported the website footwearnews.com.

It would mark the first time that a fashion week focused on men’s clothing would be held in New York at the Skylight Clarkson Square. The fashion week is expected to follow a series of month long fashion men’s fashion shows in London, Milan and Paris.

The CEO of CFDA Steve Kolb spoke of the reason behind organising the event stating that, “American menswear has never been stronger or more creative.”

One of the primary reasons for launching the New York Fashion Week: Men’s was that, “It gives the designers a business platform to show during their market dates and is an opportunity to demonstrate the collective talent of an important segment of our industry,” noted Kolb.

The event not only has the support of the CFDA and designers, but also has the backing of fashion editors and retailers throughout the industry who want to use this opportunity to promote men’s clothing reported Forbes.

London, which is already home to notable fashion designers has its own men’s fashion week with designers Alexander McQueen, Moschino and Lousi Leeman featuring on their roster. But now New York-based men’s designers will have an opportunity to showcase their talent and collections in the fashion week. Labels like Public School, Calvin Klein Collection, Rag & Bone and Michael Kors are expected to feature on the ramps.

The men’s fashion week will also provide people with a renewed and fresh perspective on menswear and footwear in a market which is mostly dominated by women’s clothing. Despite the fact that the fashion week will primarily focus on more established and mainstream men’s brand there is also a potential to promote new, up-and-coming talent at the event while providing a platform to smaller men’s accessories brand.

The sponsors for the fashion week which is scheduled to be held between July 13 and 16 include Amazon’s fashion websites Amazon Fashion, East Dane and MyHabit alongside Shinola.

Addition of menswear show comes at a critical time for the fashion industry as the NDP Group found that the menswear market in the United States had grown by five per cent from 2012 to 2013 according to the Forbes website.

The menswear market has outpaced the womenswear market, as in comparison to the market for male clothing the womenswear market has only grown by 4 percent which is mainly due to young, urban professionals with more expendable income.

The New York Fashion Week will be a standalone showcase for men’s fashion where fashion designers will display their Spring 2016 collections.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th,  2015.

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