With Clearer Leadership Titles, the CFDA Looks to Grow

 

The backbone of the American fashion industry, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has undergone something of a renaissance under the leadership of Steven Kolb and Diane von Furstenberg, both appointed in 2006. In their near-decade at the helm of the CFDA, they’ve launched the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, the Fashion Incubator, and New York Fashion Week: Men’s, among countless other initiatives and events that have expanded the global reach of American fashion. 

That’s why many industry eyebrows raised yesterday morning when news broke that Kolb and Von Furstenberg had received new titles at the organization: Kolb, formerly the CEO, was named CEO and president; Von Furstenberg, formerly president, became chairman. To those unfamiliar with the titles of business executives—read: most of the fashion industry that Kolb and Von Furstenberg preside over—the change of title seemed a sudden signal of unrest.
But as Kolb explained to Style.com over the phone, it was neither sudden nor ominous. “It really was just an alignment of title with our existing responsibilities and roles within the organization,” he noted, explaining that the CFDA’s past model used the term “president” to mean someone who overseas the organization on a broad scale, a position similar not-for-profits call “chairman.” “The idea was really to align titles with responsibility,” he said.
That doesn’t just mean for existing CFDA staff. When discussing future plans for the CFDA, Kolb conveyed that raising his and Von Furstenberg’s titles and promoting former executive director Lisa Smilor to executive vice president allows “an opportunity to expand the ranks of the CFDA with additional hires and staff growth.”
“Before that, director was the highest level you could go to, and now by adding a vice president level, we can have people—if they deserve it—come in at that level, be promoted at that level, and that lets other people at lower levels move up to manager,” he said. Though he wouldn’t admit to any specific hiring plans, it seems clear that to continue to grow and affect change in the industry at the same rate that Kolb and Von Furstenberg have over the past nine years, they’re going to need a few more helping hands. (The CFDA is also rapidly growing its membership: It welcomed its largest group of new members ever—40 in total—earlier this week, representing a spectrum of designers from around the country.)
Before focusing on what’s next, Kolb was quick to point out that after its 50th anniversary in 2012, the CFDA conducted a study with the Boston Consulting Group in early 2013 that resulted in a five-year plan with aims to grow in four areas: fashion week, manufacturing, education, and corporate partnerships. To date, the changes made in the fashion week arena alone include the CFDA purchasing the Fashion Calendar, the launch of a men’s fashion week, and the newly introduced logo for the NYFW brand. Across other areas, the CFDA offers many scholarships to fashion school students; the NYC manufacturing database on the CFDA site and its grants for manufacturers encourage local production; and its corporate partnerships with Amazon Fashion, Google, Intel, and more keep the industry on the forefront of technology. “When I look back at that study and I look to where we are today,” Kolb began, “we’ve done a really incredible job following that blueprint, following that map that was laid out for us by the Boston Consulting Group.”
Up next? Maybe some added organization around pre-collections in New York. “There is some organization already around Resort and Pre-Fall. Being clearer in the message of what that organization is and creating a better understanding around it, that’s something we’re focused on,” said Kolb.