After four months of competition, Jonathan Simkhai, Gypsy Sport and Brother Vellies won the 2015 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition in a three way split. Each brand will receive a $300,000 award as well as a yearlong mentorship with an industry veteran.
This marks the 12th year of the competition which has helped establish a new generation of American designers. Alums of the program include Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra, Thom Browne, Proenza Schouler and more. In addition to the mentorship and investment, the brands will also collaborate with Uniqlo as a part of their prize. Last year, the winning brand Public School collaborated with J. Crew on a highly anticipated capsule collection. Simkhai’s contribution to this collection will be highly anticipated as he’s known for sexy sportswear worn by the likes of Joan Smalls and Kelly Rowland.
The icing on the cake: the entire competition will be broadcast on Amazon during the spring of next year. The trio beat out brands like Chromat, CG by Chris Gelinas, Cadet, Baja East, Baldwin, David Hart and Thaddeus O’Neil for the win. This year showed a marked increase of menswear brands in the finals. Reportedly, selections from the spring collections from all of the finalists will be sold on Amazon Fashion as the show airs.
What do you think of this year’s winners?