CFDA Supports the Next Generation of Fashion Designers with Scholarships and Mentorship – WWD

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, which is marking its 60th anniversary, is deeply committed to supporting and nurturing the next generation of fashion talent, and has established educational initiatives to assist aspiring fashion designers during their collegiate years and early stages of their careers.

Scholarship has been an important focus of the CFDA’s work, and the organization recognizes the continued financial and resource challenges that students face.

In addition to awarding scholarship money, the CFDA provides mentorship and professional development.

Since 1996, the CFDA has awarded approximately $3.34 million through 352 scholarships, which are earmarked for tuition and thesis collection or portfolio expenses. For the second consecutive year, the CFDA has met its goal of awarding $500,000 to 26 student scholars, and more than 80 percent of this year’s recipients are people who are gender and ethnically diverse, or from underrepresented communities.

“We’re meeting financial needs more successfully than ever before,” said Sara Kozlowski, vice president of program strategies, education and sustainability initiatives at the CFDA. She said last year the group introduced new criteria where it considers financial needs, alongside talent and professional potential. This scholarship helps support the enormous costs of attendance at the colleges and universities and the students’ senior theses.

“As we start to ask more questions of our scholars, we learn so much. To hear that a thesis collection is at least $5,000, up to $15,000, it speaks to how important it is that we continue to provide the scholarship and the mentorship,” she said.

Many scholarship recipients over the years have gone on to prominent roles in the fashion industry, including Peter Som (1996), Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler (2001), Chris Benz (2003), Michelle Ochs (2006) and Peter Do (2013). More recent winners have included Jacques Agbobly, founder of Black Boy knits, (2019) and Uyen Tran, cofounder of material innovation Tomtex (2020).

For the upcoming 2023 round, scholarships are awarded to undergraduate juniors and first-year graduate students graduating in 2024 who are enrolled in a fashion design program at an American college or university.

Recent CFDA Scholarship Fund selection committee participants include prominent designers in the industry such as Brandon Blackwood, Dao-Yi Chow, Emily Adams Bode Aujla, Mara Hoffman, Nadja Swarovski, Stacey Bendet and Stuart Vevers, among others.

The CFDA has expanded its reach and now has an open-access application approach. There is open registration and question-and-answer sessions intended to seed relationships in new areas, including historically Black colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions with fashion design-related pathways.

All CFDA scholarships are awarded based on a holistic criteria of financial need, talent, professional potential blended with specialization-specific criteria. On average the CFDA receives 350 applications annually, and the next round of applications opens in January.

Kozlowski said in the past they would accept six submissions from each school, but now they can receive 100 applications from a particular school. “There is no barrier, they’ll also review applications from any school that has a fashion-focused program. Previously, it was an invitation-only opportunity,” Kozlowski said.

The CFDA has been working to build relationships in regions outside of New York and Los Angeles. “That’s why Steven [Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA] is so excited about our partnership with Crystal Bridges and really dedicated funding to support heartland-based talent.”

The organization gives out CFDA Design Scholar Awards, which are $25,000 scholarships for undergraduate juniors and first-year graduate students who are enrolled in a fashion design program at an American college or university. Recipients need to show strength in one or more of these specializations: apparel, accessories, experiential design and materiality. They are also required to link their work to one or more of these special focus areas: 360 DEI, image making, sustainability and tech/digital craft.

Other key awards are the Geoffrey Beene Design Masters Scholar Award, in honor of the late Geoffrey Beene. It is a $50,000 scholarship for a first-year graduate student enrolled in a fashion design program at an American college or university. The successful applicant challenges conventional codes of dressing the body by exploring 360 shape and form, material innovation and size inclusivity.

There is also the Liz Claiborne Design or Impactful Futures Scholar Award, which was established in 2009 and is a $25,000 scholarship specifically for first-year graduate students who identify as women.

Both the Geoffrey Beene and Liz Claiborne awards are in perpetuity.

There are also partnered awards such as the Coach Dream It Real x CFDA Circular Design Scholar, which is in its second year and awarded 15 scholars in 2022, totaling $200,000; CFDA x Haagen-Dazs Scholar, which underwrote four $25,000 scholarships this year, and the Swarovski Foundation + Re: Generation Innovation Scholar award, which awards one $30,000 scholarship for each of three years, along with mentorship.

In 2023, the CFDA will launch the CFDA x Crystal Bridges Heartland Scholars Award, for student designers who were born in the American heartland states, consider the heartland their home, who have lived there for more than five years, or are studying in a heartland state. The Walton foundation has donated $350,000 to the CFDA Scholarship Fund, made possible through the gift and direction of Olivia Walton.

Through the CFDA’s partnership with Elaine Gold Launchpad and the Accessories Council, three participants in 2023 will receive mentorship via a seven-week program combined with micro grants totaling $105,000. Each founder will receive $30,000 with an additional “resource scholarship” earmarking $5,000 in funds for sustainable strategies related to learning tools, business services and resources. With the support of industry professionals, participants will learn how to navigate fashion’s complex supply chain and be challenged to make responsible design and business decisions that integrate youth culture and community-building through collaboration with the Lower Eastside Girl’s Club.

The program is geared toward women of color who have founded their own business and have been in business for three years or less. Between 2017 and 2020, the program provided $700,000 in micro grants and mentorship to 16 early emerging brands anchored by sustainability, innovation and technology.

For the CFDA, the mentorship portion is critical.

With the Swarovski Foundation, for example, the CFDA does “diagnostic sessions” after they award the scholars to tailor the mentorship, said Kozlowski.

Last year’s winner was Bailey Adams, a B.F.A. fashion design student from Giles, Tennessee, studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The scholarship was fully applied to Adam’s senior year tuition and thesis-year studio expenses. He was paired with Runa Ray, who made the look for Steven Kolb at the Met Gala earlier this year, and held seven mentoring sessions with Adams on topics such as sustainable strategies, bio-material innovation and circularity, and invited Bailey into CFDA Professional Development workshops around sustainability.

A 2022 winner, Isabella Kostrzewa, is a student at Parsons who’s interested in upcycling and has a business model in mind for post-graduation. Several CFDA members have been talking to her about sustainable business and establishing a brand. She is receiving six months of mentorship.

This is the second year of partnership with Coach and Coach Foundation. “The mentorship that their team is investing in and leading is incredible,” said Kozlowski. “Out of the 15 scholars invited to opt into a circular design project, 13 of them have been assigned to the project. They are working with Joon Silverstein, vice president of sustainability at Coach.

“What they’re working on is top secret, they have been receiving an internship rate for their time. They’re prototyping something they’ll be bringing out to the world in February and March. Each one of the scholars is getting one-on-one mentorship with various experts at Coach, so they’re matching interests such as fashion business and sourcing. It’s an incredible commitment. They also hosted a lunch for them during New York Fashion Week, and had them at the show,” she said.

The CFDA has also increased the number of recipients of its CFDA Scholarships. In 2019, they awarded seven scholarships and this past September, there were 26 scholarships. When Kozlowski came on board in 2018, they were awarding $100,000 annually through CFDA, Claiborne and Beene. Now, with Coach, Swarovski, Haagen-Dazs and Crystal Bridges, along with Claiborne and Beene, they are awarding $500,000.

Kozlowski said the scholars are invited to professional development, panels and workshops. “We’re very small and we hope that we always maintain that relationship. As we start to grow the fund, we’ll see more examples that they’re going into programs like CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund or becoming CFDA members,” she said.

The CFDA also offers professional development to its membership, which is currently offered virtually through webinars and panel conversations. This year, topics have included B Corp certification, sustainability, the metaverse and technology. The CFDA also has one-on-one office hours, so there are sign-up sessions to talk about everything from financing to materials sourcing. Currently, there’s an investment series that explores how to pipeline investment opportunities for diversely owned businesses, too.

“We’ve always believed in supporting the 360-degree life cycle of talent. Now we’re able to see the progression, where someone like Jacques Agbobly, founder of Black Boy Knits, who’s a winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, was just a CFDA Scholar in 2019. We can’t wait to see what comes about for Jacques. It’s understanding that this generation is going to lead us to really innovating and problem-solving through all the urgencies that we have, whether that’s thinking of materials, or new ways of thinking. We’re investing more than ever in student futures,” Kozlowski said.