CFDA History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of CFDA, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA) is a not-for-profit trade association that leads industry-wide initiatives and whose membership consists of more than 400 of America's foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessory designers. In addition to hosting the annual CFDA Fashion Awards, which recognize the top creative talent in the industry, the organization offers programs which support professional development and scholarships, including the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, the Geoffrey Beene Design Scholar Award, the Liz Claiborne Scholarship Award and the CFDA/Teen Vogue Scholarship. Member support is provided through the Business Services Network, a high-profile group of companies offering designers strategic opportunities.
The Design Manifesto and the Founding Members
According to the Council of Fashion Designers of America, design begins with creativity, so they have created a Design Manifesto as a reminder to respect the rightful ownership of ideas. The CFDA believes the protection of the intellectual property of designers begins with each of us, and this Design Manifesto is a reminder that originality always wins. The manifesto was downloaded with approval from the CFDA site in 2011, in the historical record, and the CEO's statement is preserved with it: 'All designers deserve the right to design protection and only the creator of an original design should profit from that design. Taking someone's work and calling it your own is wrong and robs the designer of a rightful return on their investment' - CFDA CEO Steven Kolb.
The founding members list is a small piece of American fashion history, and it is reproduced whole, as recorded: Bill Blass, Donald Brooks, Betty Carol, Jane Derby, Luis Estevez, David Evins, Rudi Gernreich, Bud Kilpatrick, Helen Lee, Jean Louis, John Moore, Norman Norell, Sylvia Pedlar, Sarmi, Arnold Scaasi, Adele Simpson, Gustave Tassell, Pauline Trigere, Sydney Wragge and Ben Zuckerman. The original closes its own profile with an open question to readers about the pros and cons of joining a fashion industry association such as the CFDA and whether members found it beneficial - an invitation this page notes as part of the record, since a directory profile that asked its readers a question should keep asking it.
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