CFDA Announces Designer Dozen Chosen to Inaugurate NYC ‘Fashion Incubator’

Looks from the spring/summer 2010 collections of Prabal Gurung (left) and Bibhu Mohapatra (right), who are among the 12 designers selected for tenancy in the CFDA Fashion Incubator.

With fashion week looming, a crop of young designers have received the good news that they have been selected as the inaugural tenants of the CFDA Fashion Incubator, a business-boosting initiative of the Council of Fashion Designers of America that was established last fall with a $200,000 grant from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Each designer (or design team) will be able to take advantage of a two-year lease on an individual studio in New York’s Garment Center at below-market value rates as well as business mentoring, educational seminars, and networking opportunities. The designing dozen are:

Waris Ahluwalia (House of Waris)

Yuvi Alpert and Danna Kobo (Ruby Kobo)

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne (Public School)

Joel Diaz (Jolibe)

Rachel Dooley (Gemma Redux)

Justin Giunta (Subversive Jewelry)

Prabal Gurung

Grant Krajecki (Grey Ant)

Alison Lewis (Lewis)

Bibhu Mohapatra

Alice Ritter

Sophie Théallet

The group was selected from a pool of applicants by a committee that included designers John Barlett and Peter Som, editors Kate Lanphear (Elle) and Kristina O’Neill (Harper’s Bazaar), and retailers Beth Buccini and Sarah Easley (Kirna Zabete). The designers will begin moving into their new studios next month.

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