WME | IMG beefing up in New York with the acquisition of MADE Fashion Week

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Mar 23, 2015

WME | IMG has confirmed the acquisition of "MADE Fashion Week", the fashion week dedicated to emerging designers, founded in 2009 by Mazdack Rassi, Jenné Lombardo and Keith Baptista and held at Milk Studios in Manhattan. IMG, a holding of American talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME), is active in several Fashion Weeks, and especially New York, which it has owned and produced since 2001.

By taking control of New York Fashion Week's rival event, which has featured approximately 30 runway shows and presentations each season from designers that have included Altuzarra, Cushnie et Ochs, Public School, Proenza Schouler, Jeremy Scott, Sophie Theallet, Ohne Titel, Wes Gordon and Alexander Wang, IMG will now be able to better organise the countless events that take place during NYFW, which has grown exponentially these past few years.

"MADE Fashion Week will continue to operate as a separate entity while strategically aligning with WME/IMG to provide additional opportunities and creative resources for both entities’ designers and partners," WME | IMG stated in a press release.

"This acquisition creates new opportunities for all our designers and partners to grow and evolve their businesses not only during fashion week in New York, but globally throughout the year," said Catherine Bennett, senior vice president and managing director, IMG Fashion Events & Properties, who confirms IMG's excitement to "reimagine New York Fashion Week with new venues, experiences and platforms for the industry."

"MADE’s leadership team, which includes Keith Baptista, Mazdack Rassi and Jenné Lombardo, will continue to oversee MADE Fashion Week’s day-to-day operations and consult on WME/IMG’s broader fashion events strategy," the press release also stated.

The next edition of New York Fashion Week and MADE is scheduled for September 10-17 2015 with the presentation of the spring/summer 2016 collections.