The Spring/Summer 2026 season is unfolding against a charged political backdrop. Wars, tariff turmoil, climate legislation and the global swing to the right — bringing with it crackdowns on immigration and DEI — are reshaping the context in which designers, brands and fashion weeks operate. In New York, tension was in the air, though the shows themselves remained resolutely apolitical.
As we turn to London, fashion’s relationship with politics is in the spotlight. On Tuesday, members of parliament debated the “cultural contribution” of London Fashion Week, and its role as a tool for diplomacy, soft power and national identity. Rosie Wrighting, a former fashion buyer who became an MP last year, led the discussion, during which newly appointed Culture Minister Ian Murray stated the government’s commitment to supporting fashion. For an industry that generates billions for the UK economy yet has historically struggled for political recognition, it was a notably high-profile moment. Next up will be Milan, where the government has invested heavily in a ‘Made in Italy’ rhetoric that’s been shaken over the past year.
From Khaite to Kallmeyer, this season’s collections reached peak wearability, with pieces in sensible cuts, while emerging designers Diotima and Zankov packed a punch.
The stakes are clear. Fashion drives employment, exports and cultural influence, but it is also directly affected by regulation, trade policy and government support. The latter can determine whether a fashion week or city thrives internationally. Berlin offers a striking example: political investment has transformed this once-local fashion week into a credible player. And as the wholesale model further implodes, costs continue to rise and consumers question the value of luxury, brands arguably need these platforms now more than ever.
Here, we unpack how government support — or, in some cases, a lack of it — is shaping the big four fashion weeks in 2025.
New York
In the US, designers are used to getting by without government schemes or financial support. There’s no federal funding or subsidies to support the industry, like the country does for industries such as agriculture. The domestic apparel manufacturing industry has long been diminished by offshoring, with almost all clothing sold in the US made overseas. Championing fashion has also not been a priority of the Trump administration, whose industry focus currently lies in areas like Big Tech and AI.
Brands are navigating major tech shake-ups and policy changes in 2025, from TikTok tumult to Meta’s ever-growing grip.
American fashion is primarily supported by trade groups, like the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA).
When the Trump administration’s tariff policy disrupted the industry this year with constantly changing tax rates and deadlines, it was CFDA CEO Steven Kolb, AAFA CEO and president Stephen Lamar and Anna Wintour who went to Washington DC to champion a plan that would cause the least harm to the country’s fledgling fashion and apparel businesses. The annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has funnelled more than $8 million to young designers in private funds raised from various donors over the years. This year’s main donors are Vogue, Nordstrom, Saks, Instagram, Tommy Hilfiger and Gap Inc. The programme has also mentored more than 200 since it was founded in 2004. The AAFA’s Education Foundation awards scholarships to students in apparel and footwear-related fields to help them achieve careers in the fashion industry.
The CFDA also works with the New York City Economic Development Corporation to offer the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI), created in 2013 to invest in the city’s local garment supply chain and foster talent. Since 2013, $3.5 million in grants has been awarded to 33 NYC-based fashion manufacturers, and the initiative is now a $14 million programme.
Kolb says that with the FMI established, the CFDA’s next mission was to incentivise New York designer brands to make use of the production and talent it was supporting. In 2019, the CFDA worked with the city to create the Local Production Fund (LPF), a financial scheme for designers who make clothing in New York. It was tabled because of Covid, but Kolb says it will finally debut next year.
The revival of the fund was kick-started by a plan to rezone New York’s Garment District, which was approved by the city council in August. The plan permits housing to be built in the industrial district, worrying garment manufacturers that they’ll be displaced. The goal of the LPF is to bring more work to the district, keeping it in business. “We had a strong opinion that if you’re going to rezone, you have to invest in the industry,” says Kolb. The fund will prioritise New York Fashion Week designers, he says, in order to bridge the city’s garment production to its tentpole fashion event.
From zoning regulation changes to concerns over immigration raids, the already precarious New York Garment District is facing an uphill battle.
Other support for American designers relies on the philanthropic goodwill of those who have made it. Private donors in the industry funnel money through the CFDA’s initiatives, Kolb continues. Through her foundation that launched in 2009, Burch has facilitated more than $100 million in low-interest loans to women entrepreneurs in partnership with Bank of America. In 2025, Veronica Beard worked with the CFDA to launch a scholarship fund for future creatives.
Consider it a symptom of the country’s pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps individualism, but some brands and business owners wear their ability to fund and support their own companies as badges of honour.
“It would be incredible if there was government support. I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced it,” says Anna Sui, who launched her business in 1980. Her studio has been located in New York’s Garment District since founding, and she still manufactures everything in the onsite atelier. “But the other thing is, you have a business. You have to learn it yourself, and you have to support it yourself.”
London
In the UK, by contrast, there is optimism about the potential to forge stronger links with the British government.
After 14 years of right-wing Conservative Party rule — during which the industry struggled to make meaningful policy inroads — the centre-left Labour Party took power in July 2024. Just two months later, in September, designers and editors were invited to 10 Downing Street, where the new culture secretary Lisa Nandy hosted a reception for the British Fashion Council (BFC) to commemorate 40 years of London Fashion Week. At the event, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to turn the page on Number 10’s relationship with the fashion industry.
The city’s fledgling labels are starting to mature, while a solid showing from established names like JW Anderson, Simone Rocha and Erdem underline that longevity is possible.
“London has long been revered as a global fashion capital and we are determined for it to stay that way,” Nandy tells Vogue Business over email. “As well as being of major cultural significance, our fashion industry is an engine of economic growth. The industry reports fashion is already worth nearly £30 billion per year to the British economy and employs around 800,000 people — but we in government are ambitious about its future and believe it can grow further.”
This sentiment was echoed by Wrighting, Murray and other MPs during Tuesday’s debate. “London Fashion Week is a clear example of how British creativity translates into growth, skills exports and cultural influence that is recognised across the world,” said Wrighting in her opening speech. Murray outlined a number of government packages designed to support the creative industries, including the Creative Industries Sector Plan, which launched in June and comes with a £380 million investment to support innovation, skills and regional growth.
New BFC chief executive Laura Weir is actively pursuing the opportunity to raise fashion’s profile and gain further support. Last month, she met with London Mayor Sadiq Khan (a former Labour MP) to discuss the industry’s priorities, like the reinstatement of VAT-free shopping; Weir also attended Tuesday’s debate.
She notes that the Labour government has already been better at engaging with the industry, but says this is not enough on its own. “One would expect to see an improvement in the rhetoric from the government under Labour, given that fashion and the broader cultural and creative sectors are left-leaning,” Weir tells Vogue Business. “There is absolute recognition that there is commitment and a willingness to engage from them, but also that there is ‘no more money’, as one MP told me, so we need reassurance that this goodwill will result in major policy shifts favouring the industry.”
Currently, the main source of direct funding for the fashion industry is from the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) to support the BFC’s Newgen programme for emerging designers. DCMS provided £2 million for the scheme between September 2023 and February 2025 (covering five fashion weeks); in early 2025, another £1 million was committed for the following two seasons, and the government has said it will invest beyond 2026. Roughly 20 designers are supported each year through the programme. The Mayor of London and Greater London Authority (GLA) also contribute some money to support fashion week, typically around £600,000 per year; while £100,000 from the Department for Business and Trade supports the international guest programme during London Fashion Week. Government support for the wider industry includes around £75,000 in annual funding for programmes run by the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT).
There is also undisclosed funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, administered by the GLA for the low-carbon transition programme; £15 million for the Circular Fashion Programme to drive sustainability and innovation in textiles; and £14.4 million via the Creative Research Capability programme to fund research in fashion, design and related fields. But taken together, critics say it’s a drop in the ocean for an industry that generates £30 billion for the economy.
“Other than the commitment to London Fashion Week in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, there was nothing in the report that shows any commitment to our sector, which is far more than designers — it is SMEs and innovators across the UK,” notes Tamara Cincik, founder of lobbying organisation Fashion Roundtable. “£3 million over three years [for Newgen] sounds like a lot, but if we continue to only promote new talent, what about established brands and businesses? This is where a joined-up policy that aligns devolution, established businesses and sustainable growth needs to land.”
The level of financial support offered to the industry is constrained by the UK’s weak economic growth. But there is a feeling from some in the industry that fashion is still not as well respected as other creative industries within government, such as film and television. That dilutes its power — especially when compared to Paris and Milan. There are several reasons for this, but a large part of it is down to the fact that, after years of offshoring and then Brexit, UK fashion’s size and export strength have waned.
“What we hear from designers is that, in France and Italy, the governments listen to the industry; in the UK, the government expects fashion to listen to them, and that difference in relationship flows through to the support received,” says Weir. “In the same year the Italian government announced a €250 million fund for fashion and fashion manufacturing, the UK Department for Business and Trade has cut the funding for LFW’s International Guest Programme from £150,000 to £100,000. The difference in respect and recognition is astounding.”
The industry must take some of the responsibility for turning this around, she says, adding that one of her first steps as CEO was to commission an impact report assessing London Fashion Week’s economic, social and cultural value to the UK. “We want greater respect from the government, but that’s a two-way street: respect for the industry will come from the evidence we produce about its impact. Other sectors are more professional and strategic in the way they engage; they’ll produce a report every year, they’ll produce data. We need to stop believing that the government should inherently understand why the fashion industry is important.”
Milan
€250 million might sound like a lot. And that’s how much Adolfo Urso, Minister for Business and Made In Italy, pledged in direct government support to the Italian fashion industry in 2025. Yet, that fat sum seems suddenly slimmer when you consider that the entire turnover of Italian fashion in 2024 was €96 billion: this means that Urso’s funding boost is equivalent to 0.26 per cent of the annual value of an industry responsible for a mighty 5 per cent of national GDP.
The shape and scope of Italian political funding for local fashion manufacturing is as complex, evolved and as multifaceted as Italian fashion manufacturing itself.
At Milan Fashion Week, organising non-profit Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) is overwhelmingly bankrolled by its big beast fashion business members, which run from Armani to Zegna. However, the central government in Rome further boosts the Milan shows by delivering direct funding to support the Camera’s Fashion Hub, and its activities providing transport and hospitality for international buyers and press.
This funding is delivered via Agenzia ICE, an Italian government agency dedicated to almost the exact opposite mission as its same-name US counterpart: Italy’s ICE (which markets itself outside the country as ITA) is the Foreign Ministry’s trade agency charged with stimulating foreign investment. Milan also receives further logistical support via regional (Regione Lombardia) and municipal (Comune di Milano) governments, according to the demands of the season. Beyond Milan, Pitti Immagine, also a non-profit, is co-owned through Gruppo CFMI — the Florence Centre for Italian Fashion — by stakeholders including both city and regional government, unions and trade associations. Pitti also receives direct funding via ICE.
The industry that Pitti and CNMI champion receives further tangible financial and fiscal taxpayer-funded support. Regionally, many of Italy’s 20 authorities work to bolster fashion businesses in order to stimulate the local economy: Lombardy’s Next Fashion, a €13 million fund to bankroll specific innovations from businesses in its territory, is a typical example. Nationally, there is a specific tax credit dedicated to innovation and design in the fashion and textile industry, as well as further, more broadly applicable credits focusing on research and development, digitisation, and sustainable practice.
Then, there are occasional supportive injections, such as the €250 million announced by Urso, most of which has been earmarked to fund eligible development contracts. CNMI president Carlo Capasa tells Vogue Business: “We are grateful to ITA and the government for their support, which is needed more than ever during this period of profound transformation in the fashion industry. We are requesting funds to promote education and encourage investment in research and development, as well as digitalisation, primarily for small and medium-sized enterprises, through tax credits.”
Other state moves broadly welcomed by fashion have included the 2023 Made in Italy law, designed to shore up national production, protect expertise and offset counterfeiting. Partially as a result of this law, fashion is among the industries that have been subject to the outside auditing of their supply chains, as well as scrutiny of their workforce and labour practices. The national government has also been working with the industry to ensure compliance with the raft of recent EU-wide regulations covering sustainability and traceability.
Internationally, ITA works to cheerlead fashion as a key ingredient in Italy’s globally resonant recipe for soft power. Made in Italy Day on 15 April sees Italian embassies promote the sector, while a new scheme named Italian Fashion Days in the World has pushed special events in Osaka, Dubai and São Paolo in 2025. When working on private events and shows promoting their collections abroad, many Italian fashion companies habitually work with Italian diplomatic missions on the ground.
Of course, there will always be points of friction between government and industry: current hot topics vexing the fashion lobby include a perceived lack of support for their efforts to increase supplier oversight in order to meet labour force regulations aimed at stamping out exploitative “caporalato” working practices. In general, however, the Italian government at all levels provides tangible support for a business that employs so many Italians, and is such a calling card for Italy around the world.
Paris
In 2018, a study led by Paris fashion school Institut Français de la Mode showed the economic weight of fashion in France. French fashion represents a direct and indirect added value of 3.1 per cent of GDP, more than the automotive or aeronautic industries, and generates one million jobs across the country. “What’s at stake is to convey the significance of fashion, economically, notably in terms of jobs, technologically and culturally,” says Pascal Morand, executive president of Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), French fashion’s governing body.
There’s also an undeniable soft power to French fashion, and President Emmanuel Macron is well aware of it. He has hosted three Dîners de la Mode galas since the beginning of his presidency, something none of France’s presidents had done since François Mitterrand. First Lady Brigitte Macron famously wears Nicolas Ghesquière’s Louis Vuitton, the largest house of the largest French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Governmental instability in France — Sébastien Lecornu who was appointed France’s prime minister on 9 September is the fourth prime minister in less than two years — shouldn’t impact the set of support measures. However, each Minister of Economy or Culture has a different relationship with fashion. For example, Bruno Le Maire, who was Minister of Economy between 2017 and 2024, attended the inauguration of the Institut Français de la Mode’s new campus in 2021 and visited a Louis Vuitton atelier in 2022, while outgoing French Culture Minister Rachida Dati is known for loving fashion. While awarding Giambattista Valli with the insignia of Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres during Couture Week in July, Dati said: “By awarding you today, I am living my best life.”
In terms of more tangible support, the industry receives some funding from the DEFI, a committee for the development and promotion of clothing, which is overseen by the French industry ministry. DEFI collects a specific tax from businesses in the clothing sector — the levy amounts to less than 1 per cent of the companies’ turnover — and redistributes the money. It focuses on sustainable fashion, digital and technological innovation, manufacturing, and the image of French fashion. Each year, nearly €10 million is invested by the DEFI to support the ecosystem, including €2.5 million for emerging designers.
Thanks to the money provided by the DEFI, FHCM helps emerging designers featured on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar with some of the costs associated with fashion shows and presentations. The allocation disbursed to designers amounts to approximately €600,000 in total per year. Designers can receive support for their expenses: up to 75 per cent of costs, with a maximum of €15,000 for a runway show and €6,000 for a presentation. DEFI is also a sponsor of Sphere, FHCM’s showroom for emerging fashion designers held four times a year at Palais de Tokyo.
The Ministry of Industry provides grants to Institut Français de la Mode, while the Ministry of Culture subsidises the Andam Prize, founded in 1989 to further Parisian designers; the Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories; and the Fashion Forum, whose most recent edition was held on 13 September, merging with Les Rencontres de Faverolles, IFM alumni’s annual conference.
In January, Dati announced a series of measures for young designers, including offering access to venues such as the recently renovated Quadrilatère des Archives, which is owned by the ministry. French designer Jeanne Friot, who got her big break with a Joan of Arc outfit at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, was one of the first designers to benefit, as she was able to stage her show at Quadrilatère des Archives during Paris Men’s Week in June.
Then there is Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, which finances, supports and promotes the development of French companies — notably those in the fashion industry. Since the launch of the initiative in 2020, Bpifrance has injected over €2 billion into the sector, including €450 million in 2024. Through its investment division, Bpifrance backs brands such as Jacquemus and Officine Générale. “The prizes are there to bring out creative talent; we are here to bring out businesses,” says Delphine le Mintier-Jonglez, Bpifrance’s senior investment director for fashion and luxury. The bank also leads the Mode Luxe accelerator, now in its fifth cohort, which has supported over one hundred companies including Marine Serre, Études Studio and Maria de la Orden.
Paris City Hall also awards The Grand Prix de la Création of the City of Paris, an annual programme recognising emerging and existing talent in design, fashion and fine crafts, including the commitment prize, which rewards a professional for their entrepreneurial approach, ability to develop, create a brand or a company that is mindful of its impact. (Friot won this year’s prize, which comes with a €18,000 grant.) Meanwhile, Paris’s Prefecture de Police works closely with the FHCM, most notably on ensuring security outside of Paris Fashion Week shows.
Is all of this enough? Of course, it is never enough, especially for young designers. The environment gets tougher, between the crumbling of the wholesale channel, tariffs, the rising costs of raw materials, the resources needed to access suppliers, malls and media. As Mario Ortelli, managing director of Ortelli Co, says: “The barrier of entry and the barrier to stay in the game are much higher.”
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