This season, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) commences at a dire moment for US multi-brand retail. Brands, many still reeling from the Matches and Ssense bankruptcies, are now faced with the reality that they are unlikely to receive payment for any of the money they were owed before Saks Global filed in January. That doesn’t change the key purpose of the fashion show, which is for designers — many of whom, in New York, are independent — to get in front of the people who will buy, stock and sell their clothes.
Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman will all have buyers attending fashion month this season, the company confirmed to Vogue Business. Many brands will host these buyers at shows and appointments, cautiously optimistic about the retailers’ future under Saks’s new ownership. But some founders remain ambivalent; others are opting for smaller order sizes for the time being.
The Saks bankruptcy puts pressure on an event already strained by tough economics. Each season, NYFW — populated by primarily independent designers — prompts discourse about the big names leaving (last year, Willy Chavarria joined a long lineage of New York designers decamping for Paris) and the impossibility of running an independent fashion brand and putting on a show with already-limited funds and institutional support.
Still, season after season, New York designers show up on-schedule, knowing that a show (or a presentation) is the best way to get in front of the buyers who are in town for the week, before heading off on their fashion month circuit. This season, as brands are more cognizant than ever of the need to diversify their wholesale offerings, who will be in town and buying — and what are they looking for?
Who’s in town?
Though retailers’ own budgets are increasingly constrained, the usual US players will be in attendance — Bloomingdale’s, Moda Operandi, Net-a-Porter, The Webster, Mytheresa, and Nordstrom among them. US boutiques like Oakland’s McMullen, Atlanta’s newly relaunched Jeffrey, and Elyse Walker will also be in town for the week.
Jeffrey founder Jeffrey Kalinsky is only planning to take appointments, not attend shows. “I usually have a list of people that I don’t know but I want to know, and I’m reaching out months before market and trying to make appointments,” he says. “I just think my time is better spent in a showroom. I need to know the price of something, not just if I like it.” Plus, Kalinsky says, given shows are no longer solely for buyers and fashion press, he can do his job better in showrooms than from a show seat (where visibility is not guaranteed).
“It’s not necessarily that they have to be here sitting at a fashion show,” luxury consultant Robert Burke says of buyers in town. “The showrooms like a CD network in New York play a very pivotal role for brands.” He anticipates that there will be a number of showrooms that will be very busy with specialty store appointments over the next week, for both New York and international brands.
Emily Dawn Long, for instance, is one of the brands that Rickie De Sole, VP fashion director at Nordstrom, is excited to see this fall, having recently launched the brand. Emily Dawn Long doesn’t show at NYFW — but is throwing a dance party at Soho’s Sub Mercer on February 13. (She also hosts appointments at her Lower East Side showroom — not just during fashion week.)
Not everyone is coming to New York. Atlanta’s Ant/dote won’t have any buyers in town, the retailer confirmed (founder Lauren Amos has attended NYFW in the past); nor will Los Angeles-based Maxfield.
International buyers are more of a mixed bag. Canada-based Ssense will be in attendance. Paris’s Le Bon Marché will not be in town in February, but will attend NYFW in September. This is nothing new, a representative for the department store says. Its buyers have only ever traveled to NYFW once a year, as most of the brands available at Le Bon Marché show in Paris, Milan, and London, rather than New York. London’s Harrods, which did have a presence last September, won’t be coming this February. The retailer is currently weighing whether or not to fly out for the September 2026 shows, and says there isn’t a set schedule in place yet.
This, in combination with Saks’s shaky ground, demonstrates how much New York’s designers are competing for attention and budget during fashion week. Buyers have to allot a portion of their budget to the major European fashion houses, meaning emerging brands and more discovery-led buys make up a smaller piece of the pie. It also adds up as to why many New York brands, once they reach a certain level of momentum, decamp for other fashion weeks: more money is spent there.
“Designer houses are always going to be important to our customer,” says Courtney Grant, SVP of buying at Elyse Walker, who says she’s surprised how close attention clients pay to creative director changes at European houses. Kalinsky will also be carrying a lot of the “big brands”, he says, noting that whatever else goes in-store has to be just as important to him as these luxury players.
Still, Burke sees a lot of opportunity this season. Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom have both shown increasing interest in independent US talent, especially in light of the Saks Global fallout, he points out. Even more promising, perhaps, is interest from US specialty stores, which provide these brands with investment, trunk show opportunities, and very dedicated customer bases. “There are retail stores that are in pockets of wealth that have very strong customer relationships,” Burke says. “As the big brands are very distributed with the department stores, it gives a lot of room for these smaller brands, younger brands or more niche brands to be represented in specialty stores,” some of which, he says, are shifting away from the marquee brands they’d once pursued.
What buyers are thinking
If September’s NYFW was all about commerciality and wearability, designers were on the right track. The brands Kalinsky is watching this season all make clothes celebrated for the ways in which women can wear them day to day: Ashlyn, Kallmeyer, Heirlome. The two brands he’s most optimistic about for his own buy are Zankov and Fforme. Grant has a similar take. Kallmeyer has done “exceptionally well” for Elyse Walker, she says, while flagging TWP and Khaite (“I plan my entire weekend around that show”) as other standouts. De Sole has many of these same brands bookmarked. “New York Fashion Week has always been such an important platform for emerging design talent, and that sense of discovery feels particularly strong right now,” she says.
Though each season brings debates about the efficacy of NYFW, the buyers that do come back year after year see value in the week. “New York Fashion Week may feel quieter than in years past, but it remains a vital and culturally influential moment on the global fashion calendar,” says Tiffany Hsu, Mytheresa chief buying and group fashion ventures officer. “There is an intimacy to this season that allows for more thoughtful discovery and sharper focus.”
Grant agrees, adding that the “doom and gloom” discourse doesn’t match up with what actually takes place on the ground at NYFW. “It’s frustrating when New York gets compared to Paris, or even Milan, because of the financial support that goes into those institutions — these funds that can support humongous statements and marketing moments,” Grant says. “That’s kind of gone in New York.” It’s time for a rethink, she argues; to embrace New York for what it is — a hotbed for emerging and independent talent — rather than a week of the biggest names in fashion. “New York has an opportunity to go back to its punk roots and not compete with Paris.”
From the point of view of Astrid Boutrot, women’s buying and fashion director at The Webster, this shift is underway — and a positive. “I do see New York as a growing market for championing rising talents, more so than in other weeks,” she says. Under its The Vanguard program, which offers mentorship and guidance from industry experts, Net-a-Porter is launching Kallmeyer, Heirlome and Colleen Allen this season — all NYFW-discovered brands, says Brigitte Chartrand, Net-a-Porter’s chief buying and merchandising officer.
Buyers are increasingly wary of buying into emerging and independent designers too quickly. “You need to feel strongly not just to support, but because you believe in what the product is and want to establish a relationship,” Kalinsky says. “I don’t want to buy you one season and drop you the next, [just] because I was trying to support. That can do more damage to a young designer than if you wait to feel like you’re completely committed.”
The Webster’s Boutrot operates with a similar ethos. Though she’s excited about new names this season, she’s most looking forward to the brands she’s been eyeing over the past few seasons, including Kallmeyer, Fforme and Zankov. “It is important to observe how they can maintain consistency with their image and offerings,” she says. “It’s always important to discover new talent, but it’s even more important to track their trajectory and know when it’s the right time to onboard them.”
Nordstrom’s De Sole says that, at this moment, there’s a strong opportunity to champion new and emerging designers. “We’re doubling down on our ambition to champion emerging talent, especially at a time when it’s never been harder to launch and scale a brand,” she says. For Bloomingdale’s, which fashion director David Thielebeule says is in “growth mode”, emerging talent — especially American talent — is also a major focus. “We’re always on the hunt for new talent, and this season is no exception,” he says. Bloomingdale’s has recently onboarded brands including Zankov, Fforme and Heirlome. “Connecting our customers with the next generation of designers is one of the most rewarding — and exciting — parts of my role.” NYFW is the place to do it.
With additional reporting by Hilary Milnes.
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