Entrepreneurship

Today’s brands are constrained by crises across direct-to-consumer and wholesale distribution and limited external funding pools. But it is still possible to scale a small label, even in today’s tough environment. In part two of this series, BoF Insights spoke with investors and brand leaders about how to translate cultural heat into commercial success via diversification.

The recent closure of some of fashion’s buzziest brands laid bare the many hurdles facing even the most promising designers. But it is still possible to scale a small label, even in today’s tough environment. In part one of this series, BoF Insights spoke with brands and investors and drew upon its own advisory experience to outline how to translate cultural heat into commercial success.

BoF speaks to five BIPOC designers based in New York, LA, Chicago and London on the non-profit’s Brand Fellowship programme to learn more about how RaiseFashion’s educational programming, network and financial resources are helping them strategically grow their businesses across the US and further afield.

BoF sits down with five New York-based BIPOC designers taking part in the second iteration of Raisefashion’s Brand Fellowship programme, to hear about their entrepreneurial experience in the fashion capital and how the non-profit is helping them prepare for success.

How the 250-year-old German orthopedic shoe company with “Succession”-level family drama transformed itself into a luxury behemoth.

The fallout from the collapse of Matches Fashion continues to ricochet through Britain’s fashion ecosystem.

The Los Angeles-based accessories label has been a well-kept secret in the industry, but founders Yang Pei and Stephanie Li are hoping to change that through new acquisitions, opening brick-and-mortar stores and using AI to speed up the design and production process.

Designer Carly Mark sparked conversation about what it takes to make it as an emerging designer in New York when she announced she was shutting her ready-to-wear line and moving to London. On Thursday she held her last sample sale.

To stabilise their businesses brands are honing in on what their particular consumer wants to buy, introducing new categories and starting conversations.

That’s the promise of Zellerfeld, a 3D-printing partner to Louis Vuitton and Moncler that’s becoming a platform for emerging designers to easily make and sell footwear of their own.

With a new heavyweight backer in Italian firm Style Capital — which helped Zimmermann secure a billion dollar valuation — the French contemporary womenswear brand has ambitions to go global. But it sits in a competitive and hard-to-crack category.

After a year that saw the investment coffers dry up in fashion and beauty, 2024 brings a renewed sense of hope — but only for brands that meet an exhaustive criteria.