New York Fashion Week Designers Focus on Wearability Amid Retail Challenges

Designers grapple with the realities of the current retail landscape and aim to meet customer needs.

Published on Feb. 17, 2026

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As the retail industry faces ongoing challenges, New York Fashion Week designers are taking a more pragmatic approach, focusing on creating wearable collections that cater to their customers' needs. Designers like Joseph Altuzarra emphasized understanding their target audience as a key to building a viable business, while others, such as Lii, struck a balance between creativity and commercial viability. The overall theme of "serious clothes for serious times" emerged, as designers sought to offer a sense of stability amidst the uncertainty.

Why it matters

The shifts in the fashion industry, including the recent Saks Global bankruptcy, have put pressure on designers to rethink their approach. By prioritizing wearability and customer understanding, designers are positioning themselves to weather the current retail landscape and build sustainable businesses.

The details

Designers at New York Fashion Week this season were laser-focused on creating clothes that their customers would actually want to buy and wear, rather than just runway pieces. Joseph Altuzarra emphasized the importance of understanding your target customer, saying "If you're able to understand who you're speaking to, I think you can have a viable business." Brands like Lii offered two distinct collections that were both visually compelling and highly wearable, showcasing the designers' ability to balance creativity and commerciality. Overall, the theme of "serious clothes for serious times" emerged, as designers sought to provide a sense of stability and practicality to meet the needs of consumers in the current uncertain climate.

  • New York Fashion Week took place in February 2026.

The players

Joseph Altuzarra

A fashion designer who showed a collection at New York Fashion Week that got people wondering why his brand isn't even bigger.

Colleen Allen and Zane Li

The designers behind the brand Lii, which offered two collections at New York Fashion Week that were visually compelling and highly wearable.

Marc Rofsky

The director of ready-to-wear buying at Moda Operandi, who observed the overall theme of "serious clothes for serious times" at New York Fashion Week.

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What they’re saying

“If you're able to understand who you're speaking to, I think you can have a viable business.”

— Joseph Altuzarra, Fashion Designer (Vogue)

“This week delivered serious clothes for serious times. Whereas the spring collections offered a dose of escapist dopamine, designers proposed fall collections rooted in pragmatic wardrobing, offering a sense of stability to meet the unprecedented, uncertain times around us.”

— Marc Rofsky, Director of Ready-to-Wear Buying, Moda Operandi (Vogue)

The takeaway

As the fashion industry navigates a challenging retail landscape, New York designers are focusing on creating wearable, customer-centric collections that balance creativity and commercial viability. This pragmatic approach aims to provide stability and meet the needs of consumers in uncertain times.