For Fforme, too, the prospect of more industry support is enticing. “We’re honored to take part in the inaugural KFN program, joining a celebrated group of designers united by a belief in the cultural significance and enduring influence of New York Fashion Week,” says Fforme CEO Joey Laurenti. “At a time when the industry is actively seeking meaningful support for brands, this initiative feels both timely and essential.”
KFN is working closely with the CFDA on this first stage, and future evolutions, of its NYFW initiative. Since launching its NYFW project, the organisation has gone to lengths to emphasise that it will work alongside the NYFW organiser. The CFDA, for its part, is embracing the offering.
“As the organising body of the Official NYFW Schedule, the CFDA has always been committed to building and optimising the calendar while providing resources to support the designers showing and industry at large who take part in the week,” Joseph Maglieri, director of Fashion Week Initiatives at CFDA, said in a statement. “The team at KFN worked with CFDA to advance that mission with The Venue Collective and we appreciate the coordination and logistics it brings to strengthen the week beginning this September.” Though a slot on the official schedule is not a requirement to be part of KFN’s cohort, every brand in September is indeed on schedule.
After KFN announced the initiative in May, the company says it received 105 applications from brands – an indicator that there’s a need and a demand. Though the initial number of applications was high, the final selection whittled itself down, Russo says. Because the initiative was announced in May, some designers already had venues locked in – some of which are outside of the perimeter. It was also a matter of timing. “There was a lot of coordination with the calendar, because there may be a venue available on one day and you’re slotted for another day,” Russo says. “There was a lot of orchestration.” Plus, she says, some designers were ready to pull the trigger earlier than others. “It was a bit of a self-selecting process,” she says.
For those who weren’t able to get a runway slot, KFN offered their other venue slots, or connected designers with venues outside of the KFN network for this season. “We’re also trying to serve as a resource overall and, moving forward as we expand, we’ll take a lot of those learnings [about timing and demand] into consideration.”
In 2026, KFN will launch a fourth category of location: an Editor Salon Series. This will serve appointment-based presentations, set in gallery-style spaces, designed for brand discovery and engagement with editors and buyers only. In addition to the Venue Collective, KFN also has more plans to revamp NYFW, including consumer centric events, raising city support and a digital platform.
For now, organisers are looking at this season as a trial run. “What we really wanted to do is have the season be sort of the pilot and get some learnings and expand in 2026,” Russo says. This means getting an earlier start to planning, and accommodating more designers. “I think we could easily double it.”
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