Council of Fashion Designers of America

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, is a not-for-profit trade association of over 450 American fashion and accessory designers. The organization promotes American designers in the global economy.
In addition to hosting the annual CFDA Fashion Awards, the organization develops future American design talent through scholarships and resources in high schools, colleges, and post-graduate schools. The CFDA also provides funding and business opportunities for working designers. Through the CFDA Foundation, the organization supports charitable causes.
History.
The first president of the CFDA was Sydney Wragge (from 1962 until 1965). Steven Kolb is the CEO and president since 2006. As of June 2019, Tom Ford is the group's chairman; he follows Diane von Furstenberg who served as chairman for 13 years.
The following people were founding members of the CFDA, from 1962:
CFDA Fashion Awards.
The CFDA Fashion Awards was founded in 1980 with the first awards in 1981 and honors excellence in fashion design. It has been called "the Oscars of fashion". Prior to the establishment of the CFDA Awards, the Coty Awards filled a similar role until they ended in 1985, with the final Coty Awards given in September 1984. In 1997, the CFDA Awards made a decision in order to open its doors to younger, upcoming designers.
Nominations are submitted by the Fashion Guild, a group of over 1,500 CFDA members, fashion editors, retailers, and stylists. Award winners are voted on and announced at an annual black tie event held at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Award winners receive a trophy made by the New York firm Society Awards.
Collaborations.
In 2010 the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Monique Péan, Patrik Ervell, and Sophie Theallet teamed up with Gap Inc. In 2012 and 2013 the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners and runners-up each created capsule collections with J. Crew.
In celebration of the organization's 50th Anniversary, Target and Neiman Marcus partnered with 24 CFDA members to create a special holiday collection that was available at both retailers. Additionally, the CFDA has partnered with Kohl's on designer collaborations such as Derek Lam for Kohl's and most recently, Catherine Malandrino for Kohl's.
On October 3, 2013 the CFDA and Google+ launched an innovative shopping tool, titled "Shoppable Hangouts", where users had the ability to shop Hangouts on Air (HOA). The CFDA kicked off the product launch with CFDA President Diane von Fürstenberg. Rachel Zoe, Marcus Wainwright and David Neville of rag & bone, and Rebecca Minkoff also participated in the Shoppable Hangout experience.
Programs.
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.
The CFDA and "Vogue" Magazine have created an endowment for the stated purpose of funding significant financial awards to one or more designers and provide business mentoring. Award recipients are selected by a committee of industry experts.
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Selection Committee annually selects three emerging fashion designers, who receive:
Notable past finalists include:
CFDA {FASHION INCUBATOR} program.
The CFDA {FASHION INCUBATOR} is a business development program designed to support the next generation of fashion designers in New York City. The program provides a creative professional environment with the mission of helping to grow and sustain the businesses of the 10 participating brands over the course of the two-year program. By offering low-cost design studio space, business mentoring, educational seminars, and networking opportunities, the program provides a way for participants to reach their full potential and become an integral part of the New York Fashion community. In 2010, the program partnered with New York University's Stern School of Business to create a Masters Workshop that pairs their top MBA Students with the designers to work on business development projects.
Successful alumni of the Incubator program include Prabal Gurung and the 2013 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School.
The 4.0 class (2016-2018) of the {FASHION INCUBATOR} includes Alexandra Alvarez of Alix, Aurora James of Brother Vellies, Charles Youssef, Daniel DuGoff of Ddugoff, Tim Joo and Dan Joo of Haerfest, Jason Alkire and Julie Alkire of Haus Alkire, Ji Oh, Katie deGuzman and Michael Miller of K/ller Collection, Thaddeus O’Neil, and Molly Yestadt of Yestadt Millinery.
Fashion Manufacturing Initiative.
The Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI) is an investment fund to help revitalize New York City's garment industry. The program offers matching financial grants to New York City's fashion manufacturing production facilities.
In March 2018, the CFDA and NYCA announced that the following seven production facilities would receive a combined total of $480,000 in the fifth round of FMI grants: Atelier Amelia, Sunrise Studio, In Style USA, Mudo Fashion, New York Embroidery Studio, Season Wash, and Werkstatt.
Fashion Targets Breast Cancer.
Fashion Targets Breast Cancer® (FTBC), a charitable initiative of the CFDA/CFDA Foundation, seeks to raise public awareness and funds for the breast cancer cause.
The Fashion Targets Breast Cancer name and symbol were created by Ralph Lauren and subsequently entrusted to the CFDA Foundation. FTBC was first presented in the U.S. in the spring of 1994 during New York Fashion Week, and was formally launched in September 1994 at a special White House reception hosted by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. During this initial campaign, 400,000 FTBC shirts were sold, raising $2 million to benefit the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Health at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center. This center was chosen as beneficiary at Ralph Lauren's request, in memory of his friend Nina Hyde, the former fashion editor of "The Washington Post", who died of breast cancer in 1990.
Since 2011, the Council has led an annual campaign to promote the initiative and partners with well known fashion icons. In 2017, Fabletics partnered with Fashion Targets Breast Cancer to produce an activewear collection. A portion of all sales for the collection would be donated to target breast cancer screening and treatment.
To date, nearly $50 million has been granted to breast cancer charities worldwide from FTBC campaigns. CFDA Members have designed special FTBC branded or inspired merchandise, which was either sold or auctioned over the course of the campaign.
CFDA Scholarship Program.
The Scholarship Program was created to award annual merit-based scholarship grants to students who study in a four-year, full-time college level design program. It has awarded $1,399,250 to students. The Geoffrey Beene Design Scholarship Award, the Liz Claiborne Design Scholarship Award, and the CFDA/Teen Vogue Scholarship Award in partnership with Target selected scholars from one of the CFDA's 20 participating design schools and donated $25,000 towards tuition and educational expenses. The awards are based solely on merit and judged by a panel of industry experts.
Publications.
The CFDA has published the following books, listed in order by publish date: