CFDA’s Fashion Week Schedule Will Include American Designers Showing Off-Calendar and Abroad

As more American designers present their collections outside fashion week or abroad at Paris Fashion Week and other cities, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) announced Friday it will rename its official New York Fashion Week schedule as the ”American Collections Calendar,” and list its designers regardless of when and where they show.

While the CFDA will continue to encourage American designers to show in New York during New York Fashion Week, we recognize the need for some to broaden their global visibility,” said CFDA chairman Tom Ford in a statement. “In the past few years, many of our members have chosen to show in Europe, Asia, and other key markets and in many cases off-calendar. The events of the past year have only highlighted the need for flexibility within the fashion system.”

The CFDA acquired the Fashion Calendar in 2014 from Ruth Finley, who started publishing a schedule for the New York fashion industry in the 1940s. Last year, as many designers turned to digital presentations amid the pandemic, the CFDA developed an online platform called Runway360, to host videos and other designer content around collections.

IMG, which acquired New York Fashion Week in 2013, has its own web platform and schedule each season as well.