Inside the inaugural US Fashion Trust award

Narrowing down the finalists from more than 400 applicants to more than clothing. France highlights the importance of business acumen whether applicants understand profit and loss, margins and scalability. Is it a viable business? It’s all well and good to be an amazing designer doing amazing work, he says. However, if you are not a viable and scalable business especially at a time like this when business is really tough, we can’t help you get started.

FTUS’ focus on diversity extends to its board. It’s a very diverse list of people, the French say. Because [Fares] understand the importance of not just having a bunch of white men or white women dictating who should be the recipients. If we were all white people making decisions, we wouldn’t see or understand the complexities and nuances of their work.

Through this, FTUS hopes to encourage collaboration. It builds community. This is very important, said Fares. He appointed Fashion Trust Arabia, where advisory board members frequently collaborate with finalists. There is a lot of synergy with the council and ambassadors.

Going forward, Fares wants to support more designers by expanding the award categories. I want to include, for example, shoes and bag accessories, for sure, he said. But, for now, this is about proving the necessity and value of non-profits for the US fashion landscape.

FTUS also hopes to encourage more applicants. We want people to look at this year and think: gosh, someone like me could apply, said France. As a South Asian Pakistani queer in the UK I would never even think of applying for something like this. But, seeing this, if I were a young designer, Id [think], that’s the program for me. They will see me.

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