How Independent Designers are Navigating Today's Challenging Retail Landscape

As New York Fashion Week Spring 2025 content continues to take over our social feeds, it’s easy to only focus on the glamorous side of being a designer. But as most entrepreneurs and creative directors are quick to share, the reality is that running a successful brand requires both a creative and business-oriented mindset. And let’s face it, given retail’s currently rocky environment, designers — especially independent ones — are being challenged now more than ever to ideate efficient ways to remain afloat.

Ahead, 12 NYFW designers get candid with Fashionista on how they’re navigating retail today, including the types of retailers they’re partnering with for wholesale, the role of direct-to-consumer and other strategies for acquiring customers and ensuring longevity. 

Fletcher Kasell, Tanner Fletcher

“We are proceeding with caution and we really are growing our own customer base. Our direct-to-consumer is a really strong part of our business — that’s probably the majority of our business. But we love the partners that we’re with and it just has to have the right synergy and it’s a good situation.”

Patricia Bonaldi, PatBo

“I really believe in retail, so I believe in e-commerce. I have a strong e-commerce, but I’m opening stores. I’m opening 15 stores in Brazil and two stores in the U.S. I think it’s, for my product, an experience. It’s totally different when you see it on a website [versus] when you have an experience and you can see, touch and feel the clothes. So I really believe in this experience that is so human and only retail can give it.”

Jackson Wiederhoeft, Wiederhoeft

“Right now the bulk of my business is direct-to-consumer, especially within the bridal landscape, which I think has been the safeguard for me in such an uncertain time. It really breaks my heart to see what’s happening to so many small brands who are relying on wholesale. But we’re actually launching more wholesale. We’re launching that very shortly. I think our goal is just playing it slow and focusing on profitability because I intend to be here for a really long time, and that’s not going to happen if I don’t play it smart. Sometimes it just means taking care of business, doing our corset sizing program — that was really hard work. I was in the lab all summer doing calculations — literally math. But it was so fun. And now I love knowing that when I open the door for a bridal appointment, any one of any body type, I can just welcome them in and say, ‘I have just the thing for you.'”

Sandy Liang

“I try to keep my head down and it’s hard having a small brand because you’re dealing with all the creative side and also all the business side. I just take it day by day and ultimately I love my job, so that’s what keeps me going.”

Amy Smilovic, Tibi

“Four years ago we made a commitment that we were going to only work with the best specialty stores around the world and we did that. So I feel terrible that a lot of designers have been hurt by some of the things going on at some of these big brand stores, but we’re not part of that. And our specialty stores and our direct business is thriving. So what we said we were going to do four years ago, we’ve done and we’re sticking to it.”

Christian Juul Nielsen, Aknvas

“One of the highest priorities for me is to interact directly with all my retailers. If you ask about any of the places where we sell Aknvas, I always know the buyers personally. I spend a lot of time in all my sales appointments talking to them – ‘What’s working for you from Aknvas? Where is it that we’re going?’ They never tell me what to design because they always say to me, ‘We want newness. We want it to feel Aknvas.’ But I always ask them, ‘What’s working and what should it look like? Where are you guys at?’ And then after that, I go back to my inspiration board and I work collections, obviously around what I want to do, but I listen to them a lot.”

Daniella Kallmeyer, Kallmeyer

“We had a really busy summer. We’re expanding our wholesale, we’re expanding our direct-to-consumer… We have grown our wholesale in a very cautious and strategic manner, and we’re really proud of the wholesale partners we have now and the ones that are coming and the ones that we’re expanding and the way that we interact with our wholesale partners. Our expansion and direct-to-consumer has a lot more to do with the DNA of Kallmeyer, which is that we never want to be more than one degree of separation away from our customers and educate them on how to wear the product. Being part of dressing them for important moments, even knowing their names and knowing what they like is part of what I’m thinking about going into the next season. So that intimacy should never leave our side as we expand. It’s really more about how you expand intimacy…. I always say my favorite big retailer is the one who’s still coming in and they’re like, ‘We love this, we love this, we love this, but we better make sure we get this blazer in a size 14 for Beth.’ It doesn’t matter how big you are, if you lose track of who your customers are, what they’re wearing, what they want, you will lose sight of why you are buying this product, and then it just becomes stuff.”

Taylor Thompson, 5000

“What I really wanted to focus on was direct to consumer and making sure that we were able to push that, especially where it came to starting off bespoke tailoring, setting up appointments and being able to do measure-to-wear, but then also being able to have some sort of ready-to-wear that’s easy for people to wear. I’ve been not necessarily wanting to push the wholesale aspect of it all… So for me, it’s trying to get into one or two good retailers in the next year or so, and then building off of that. I want the clothes to feel like they’re in the boutique boutiques, like small boutiques within the world. I feel like that’s a little bit more intimate, and being able to see the clothes in a very calm space.”

Edvin Thompson, Theophilio

“I’ve been leaning on my friends because my friends are the consumers. My friends are the ones that are in there on the emails. My friends are the shoppers, the assistants, the managers and all those things, the people that move the workforce. So I’ve just been leaning on those types of folks in a way to keep me inspired, but also just keep me up to date with things.”

Phillip Lim, 3.1 Phillip Lim

“It’s tough. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s tough. I always thought that the independent brands and the voices and the talents, they really are the true narrative of the fashion industry. They really move it forward because you’re able to do what you want. So that’s really the lesson. I always say balance cool and commerce, because the more independent you stay, the more freedom you have.”

Bach Mai

“That’s part of what caused this year of darkness, right? And I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to make clothes that I love.’ Rather than trying to make things for whatever reason, it was just to make clothes that I love and remember why I do this and why I started doing this and what caused me to love fashion in the first place.”

Jane Wade

“I think the wholesale landscape is so finicky at this time. Even some of the accounts that I’m most excited to pick up, you’re scared that they’re not going to be able to pay the bill when the order comes through. So I’m just really focusing on other ways that we can bring and drive meaningful revenue to the brand, like partnerships — this season we’re partnering with Nike on the footwear and the accessories. So those are really meaningful ways to drive revenue towards the brand that still expands the network without having to necessarily take all of the risks on our behalf if we produce a wholesale order across six months and then, when we’re ready to deliver it, and they’re like, ‘Actually, we’re going out of business, or we can’t pay you for 60 days.’ Or a plethora of reasons why something like that might happen. Also we’re internally focusing on DTC, making sure that we can really reach our customers on our own. Although wholesale is a fabulous marketing platform, we’re also sharing our margin with someone else. So finding ways to drive people back to our brand… Maybe it’s putting an exclusive style on the website. Just coming up with more creative ways to make a special offering for people or a special moment with other collaborators that just belong to the brand.”

Reporting by Brooke Frischer, Janelle Sessoms, Emma Greene and Dhani Mau.

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Source: Fashionista.com