What's Ailing America's Fashion Darlings?

NEW YORK, United States — They’ve won CFDA awards They’ve opened stores in Dubai, Bangkok and Tokyo They were called the “cool kids,” the “anointed ones” and the “fashion darlings” For the cohort of American luxury brands that rose to prominence a decade ago, growth and prosperity are no longer a given.

As brands like Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler work to reconfigure their business models in order to adapt to changing times, others are shrinking their staffs or hiring new kinds of employees. Rag & Bone laid off about 20 people in its New York office last month in a restructuring, while Opening Ceremony laid off most of its design team this year Over the past five years, multiple CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund participants have shut down their labels, including Suno, Thakoon, Wes Gordon (now creative director at Carolina Herrera), Band of Outsiders (which later relaunched with a different design team), Orley, . Source