From Susan Fang to Kim Shui, designers discuss how to run a global fashion business in 2025

This year is already proving to be a tumultuous one for the fashion industry. Fierce U.S. tariffs are shaking up the apparel manufacturing sector, London Fashion Week announced the end of its June edition, and the creative director revolving door is whirling. With community, bespoke design, and transparency rising up consumers’ priorities list, and Chinese manufacturers’ TikTok videos stoking criticism of luxury brands, it could just be high-time for newer fashion brands to succeed. Combining wisdom from archive and brand new Jing Daily interviews, designers reveal their biggest gems of advice for running a fashion brand in 2025. Creating a distinctive business model Iris van Herpen, Dutch haute couture designer “It’s important to create your own identity as a creative, but it is also important to create your own terms of business. Creatives are scared so they easily go to people for advice in business but you can be creative with your business model and there can be a lot of strengths in that.” Kim Shui, New York-based womenswear designer “Starting and growing with limited resources was a major challenge. Balancing creative expression with wearability required a lot of trial and error. Hearing constant ‘nos’ was discouraging, and many people told me my aspirations were unrealistic. Overcoming doubt meant staying focused and pushing forward despite skepticism. We optimize production planning and waste reduction by working on a pre-order model, ensuring we produce only what’s needed. We’ve partnered with the same family-run atelier since the beginning, watching them grow and employ more staff.” Understanding commercial needs and market gaps Susan Fang, Chinese London-based designer “Commercialness doesn’t mean a T-shirt; it is about finding the gap and need in the market and what society needs. For us, we were so surprised that the bubble bag that looked like jewelry and can only fit a phone took off. But, it was launched at the time when China started digitizing payments. People no longer need a wallet to make a payment, so they can go about only with their phone. So, it was perfect timing.” Samuel Ross, founder of SR_A “It depends what a designer wants. Do you want to build a modern luxury brand that’s profitable, or a brand with deep cultural resonance? My answer would be different to each of those. What changed my life was a focus on building a brand that can reach a lot of people. If your objective is to reach a lot of people, and include a lot of people, then it’s all about bringing people with you more than pushing them away.” Cultural connection and authenticity Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia, creative director at Shiatzy Chen “Cultural confidence is the most vital foundation. Designers should deeply explore their cultural roots and find ways to connect those elements with contemporary aesthetics. Staying true to originality, paying close attention to craftsmanship and detail, and understanding consumer needs are all essential for building a lasting presence in the ever-changing fashion industry.” Building community and collaboration Skepta, music artist and founder of Mains “My advice to creatives? It’s very easy to be in solitude and be by yourself to think of ideas. But just talk to people, because someone somewhere could use your help, and you could use theirs, too.” Balancing creativity and business responsibilities Astrid Andersen, founder of Stel “I wish I had experienced the difference between being a fashion designer and owning your own fashion brand. When you launch a namesake label, like I did, straight out of college, it’s such a privilege to have the industry backing you through talent platforms and mentoring programs. But, you are essentially a CEO from day one, trained as a fashion designer. You have to love the entrepreneurial element as much as fashion. When you are selected for these talent incubators, it’s because you have excelled in your design language and creativity and immediately you are thrown into roles like finance, logistics, production, HR, etc, where you far from excel and you learn by doing. It’s a hard way to learn, but having said that, I also never wished for my path to have been any different.”

Top designers on surviving 2025 in fashion

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Top designers on surviving 2025 in fashion