Steven Kolb

Steven Kolb is chief executive officer of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a group of 477 American fashion womenswear, menswear, jewelry, and accessories designers. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and an honorary doctorate of the Arts from Kendall College of Art and Design at Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Business of Fashion ranks Kolb as one of 500 people shaping the global fashion industry. . In 2018 and 2012, he was named to the Out100 list, a celebration of the most influential LGBTQ people of the year. .

Kolb manages the CFDA's membership, trade association activities, and longstanding philanthropic initiatives such as Fashion Targets Breast Cancer,[1] which raises public awareness and funds for breast cancer research in the U.S. and internationally. Furthermore, he has overseen raising funds for natural disasters such as Fashion for Sandy,[2]which raised funds after Hurricane Sandy and for HIV/AIDS through initiatives such as 7th on Sale and Love Ball

Kolb works directly with CFDA Board Chair Tom Ford and the CFDA board which is composed of America's foremost designers, such as Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Ashley Olsen, Prabal Gurung, and Tommy Hilfiger .[3]

One of Kolb's largest contributions to American fashion has been his leadership role in cultivating the next wave of emerging American fashion talent through programs such as the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund[4] (CVFF). Kolb serves as a judge for CVFF and was featured on "The Fashion Fund," an original unscripted series documenting CVFF. Alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Tom Ford, Kolb led the repurposing of the 2020 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund into a fundraiser called A Common Thread to aid fashion businesses most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Other CFDA program's where he sits on the selection committee include the Elaine Gold Launch Pad in partnership with the Accessories Council [6]and the CFDA/Lexus Fashion Initiative supporting sustainable fashion practices. He also served as a judge for the International Woolmark Prize and the H&M Foundation Global Change Award.

Kolb has helped build the annual CFDA Fashion Awards to become the preeminent spotlight on American fashion, even being called the Oscars of Fashion.[7]

Under his direction, the CFDA worked with the Boston Consulting Group to conduct an extensive study to evaluate the purpose of New York Fashion Week. The intent of the study was to question the status quo of fashion week and stimulate a dialogue in the American fashion industry.[8] As the result of the study many designers shifted to See Now Buy Now collections and outside the traditional September and February fashion week schedules.

Kolb has also worked to establish the Strategic Partnerships Group (SPG) at the CFDA. This group works to strategically align corporate partners with the CFDA's members, in an effort to leverage and add value to both the partner and the designer, respectively. Partnerships include American Express, Cadillac, Lexus, Klarna, Accenture, Starbucks, NFL's Super Bowl, Cartoon Network and Pokémon.

Furthermore, Kolb helped pave the way for the CFDA's Health Initiative, which was formed to address the overwhelming concern about whether some models are unhealthily thin, and how to implement best practices in such cases. In 2018, the Health Initiative was expand to the Initiative on Health, Safety and Diversity addressing harassment and assault and the need for more diverse casting.

Civic responsibility became a core pillar of CFDA's work with Kolb leading campaigns with Planned Parenthood, ACLU and immigration reform with FWD.US. [9]

In addition, under his direction, CFDA produced a study with Glamour Magazine called "The Glass Runway" looking at the gender inequalities in the fashion industry and offering actionable steps for improvement [10] and with PVH Corp, CFDA is working toward inclusion and diversity in fashion. Specifically, Kolb is behind the report and action plan called ‘Insider/Outsider' that spans all areas of inclusion and diversity, such as abilities, age, gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. [11]

As a response to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 , Kolb along with CFDA chairman Tom Ford and the CFDA Board of Directors announced new organizational commitments, led by CFDA President CaSandra Diggs, to create systematic changes within the fashion industry to give Black people more opportunities while tackling injustices.

Kolb has helped develop the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative (FMI),[12] which is an investment fund to help revitalize New York City's garment industry. The program offers matching financial grants to New York City's fashion manufacturing production facilities looking to grow and sustain their business by acquiring of innovative equipment, expanding their services, training workers, and creating professional development programming.

In 2020 the Local Production Fund (LPF) was created as part of FMI to support new production in New York City.

He served on the Manhattan Borough President's working group to define new initiatives to support mid-town Manhattan production.

Kolb also works tirelessly to keep a designer's original designs intact through efforts such as the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act.

Sustainability became a key pillar for the CFDA, under Kolb's leadership launching a hub designed to provide open access resources and information specific to fashion design x business sustainable strategies. [13]

A major accomplishment, Kolb successfully led CFDA's effort to acquire the Fashion Calendar—the official schedule of fashion events and shows in New York, including New York Fashion Week.

Moreover, Kolb works with international counterparts to manage the global fashion week schedule and he spearheaded the creation of the New York Fashion Week logo and brand.

In July 2015, under Kolb's leadership, New York Fashion Week: Men's launched creating a stand-alone fashion week for American menswear that aligns with the men's market. .

In 2020 Kolb foresaw the challenges of live fashion shows as a result of COVID-19 and led the CFDA to launch RUNWAY360, a unique and innovative digital platform developed to support American designers by bringing together every aspect of a collection launch in a one-stop-shop environment.