Miami Fashion Week 2024 Platformed Diverse Designers and Discussions of Sustainability

In Miami, there’s a distinct joyful energy that surrounds the local fashion community, and it was on full display at the annual Miami Fashion Week (MIAFW). The five-day event — which took place from Nov. 19 to 24 — platformed brands, many by Latin American, Spanish and Caribbean designers, who showed their resort, pre-spring and Spring 2025 collections. Participating labels included Gianinna Azar, Claro Couture, Yas Gonzalez, Sigal and Yenny Bastida and Lafayette 148 NYC.

Also on this year’s schedule was a two-day summit that took place at the Miami Fashion Institute at Miami Dade College. A panel of fashion professionals — ranging from designers to tech enthusiasts to content creators — gathered to have candid conversations on the state of the industry. Key topics included social media, early entrepreneurship advice, sustainability and mental health.

Below, we break down the key takeaways and biggest conversations from MIAFW 2024.

Photo&colon; Courtesy of Miami Fashion Week

Digital-Forward Entrepreneurship

The first sessions of the Miami Fashion Week Summit — titled “Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age” — addressed how social media is a crucial tool for designers to grow their brands.

“Having social media is so important because that’s where the customers are,” Rodner Figueroa, a TV host-turned-designer, told the audience. “And it’s important to have a personal connection with your customers. They’re the ones who sustain your business.”

Bernardo Möller, founder of the fragrance brand House of Bō, agreed, adding that a key part of building that personal relationship is for designers to be the face of their brand. Especially as someone who prefers to operate off-camera, Möller shared he saw an increase in sales after he began fronting social content and interacting with consumers: “Your achievements become their achievements a lot of times, and people really want to feel they’re part of a community.”

Figueroa does this by hosting interactive live broadcasts on Instagram or Facebook and using photos and videos to “show the process.”

“Show how you do it: How you design, sketch, buy fabric and the people who work for you, because then [customers] feel like they’re buying not only the item that they like, but they’re [investing] in you,” he said on stage.

As a perfumer, “showing the process” looks different for Möller: He takes a “targeted approach” and relies on being very descriptive so that each fragrance has its own “universe.” This materializes through detailed, digestible descriptions on the website, audio and visual images of the scents on the product page and scene-setting copy and campaigns on social media.

“We really think of who’s going to wear it; what are the aspirations of the person that’s going to wear that fragrance? All our communication is directed to that specific person,” Möller told the crowd.

Both entrepreneurs emphasized that social media, while important, is just one piece of a bigger point: All aspiring designers must realize that fashion is a business. “You have to find a balance between what you like as a creator and what you think is commercial,” said Figueroa. “I’ve done pieces that I’m not particularly proud of, but that I knew they’re going to sell.”

Miami Fashion Week Summit 2024.
Photo&colon; Courtesy of Miami Fashion Week

Sustainability Education

Sustainability is a hot topic across every fashion-forward city, but for locals, the conversation comes from a dire place: Miami-Date County — the city’s most populous area — is reportedly facing a “landfill crisis” with an estimated 2.5 million tons of waste produced in 2024 (and estimated to increase over the next few years). In the panel “Fashion Forward: Rethinking Fashion for a Sustainable Future,” three industry creatives discussed how they’re achieving educative and innovative sustainable solutions for both businesses and consumers.

Yadira Díaz founded Gradible, a comprehensive platform that provides local companies with products, services, technologies and strategies to reduce waste, water consumption and energy efficiency. The goal is to make it “easy and convenient” for organizations to “find these solutions” that “already exist,” she told the audience.

Consumers can be eco-conscious too, according to Taryn Hipwell, healthy fashion consultant and author of “How to Shop for Shi(f)t.” She consults with brands, speaks to universities around the world and meets with sustainability leaders to advocate for plastic-free, toxin-free fashion and educate about the environmental costs of shopping. She listed upcycling, thrifting and avoiding recycled plastic and virgin polyester as ways shoppers can engage with fashion sustainably.

Vanessa Sanchez, meanwhile, encourages consumers to “be part of the circular fashion economy” with her app Bonnee, a clothing swap platform.

The biggest challenge of pushing for sustainable actions is that many consumers and businesses see it as too expensive. Díaz argued otherwise: “If you think about it, when you reduce waste, energy and water, you are reducing your expenses.” That said, she “realized [many] organizations have limited time, resources and budgets” so she uses “financial incentives” like “subsidies, grants and tax credits” to make sustainable solutions more “feasible.”

Hipwell agreed, adding that for consumers, practicing no shopping and re-wearing what’s in our closets can go a long way.

Sustainable Design and Production

How can designers practice sustainability? In the panel “Threads of Tradition: Merging Heritage and Sustainability in Modern Fashion,” bio-designer Magali Mendez shared how she’s changing harmful practices in the textile dyeing process with her company Tintte. The startup develops dye pigments utilizing microorganisms instead of the industry’s standard of synthetic dyes.

“The textile dying process alone produces 20% of the world’s water pollution,” Mendez said during the panel. “Not only that, it uses a lot of chemicals that pose a risk to human health, for the workers, nearby communities and the end users.” Tintte’s unique biotechnological process combats this, reducing water and electricity consumption and has a 50% reduction in lab-scale usage.

Meanwhile, designer Sigal Cohen implements sustainable practices in the design and production process: from visiting her manufacturing partners to inspect working conditions and utilizing low-impact fabrics, to smaller details like replacing plastic bags that hold extra buttons with recycled cardboard or using cornstarch packaging.

“I break [sustainability] down into small pieces because it can be such a big and daunting word,” she told the audience.

Designer Yenny Bastida celebrates her Venezuelan roots by participating in local art and culture. She’s employed a workforce of women at her Venezuelan-based studio in addition to satellite teams of female artisans across the region. For Bastida, practicing sustainability takes shape through preserving textile heritage and engaging in hand craftsmanship.

Miami Fashion Week 2024 closing party.
Photo&colon; Courtesy of Miami Fashion Week

Platforming Latin and Spanish Designers

Though the participating designers of MIAFW hold an international presence, the week largely highlighted Latin creatives. Sigal and Yenny Bastida closed out the week, with the latter showcasing her Venezuelan-inspired designs. Cuban-American designer Yas Gonzalez proposed a collection full of vibrant prints, tropical colors, bold pattern play and unique textures. Conversely, Claro Couture’s Fernando and Beatriz Claro (ethnically Spanish), took a subdued approach, with monochromatic looks of earthy tones and fluid silhouettes defined by sensual draping.

Dominican-Lebanese designer Gianinna Azar — who has designed for Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears and Maluma — put forward her signature lavish, sequined gowns that are spectacles in of themselves.