The Emerging Designers Pushing Fashion Forward

If there’s a common thread among the emerging designers shaping fashion’s future today, it’s that their origins and perspectives reach far beyond the traditional fashion capitals of Paris, Milan, New York and London.

These days they also come from cities such as New Delhi, Mexico City, Kingston, Shanghai, Warsaw and Nairobi. And they want to integrate that heritage into their work, not hide it. They’re also questioning the usual operating methods of an industry grappling with challenges from overproduction and rising carbon emissions to labour scandals in the highest echelons of luxury.

Today, The Business of Fashion is shining a spotlight on the emerging designers in The BoF 500 Class of 2025, the newest inclusions to our index of the people shaping the global fashion industry. Hailing from 14 countries and six continents, this year’s emerging designers are from a wide variety of backgrounds, and embody a range of different approaches to fashion.

Some, such as Conner Ives and CFCL, are addressing waste and overproduction by pioneering new approaches to sustainability. Others, including Kartik Research, Auralee, Mmusomaxwell and Campillo, are centreing local craftsmanship to platform communities long sidelined by the global market and recontextualising their cultural codes for a contemporary international audience. In addition, designers like Rachel Scott, Meryll Rogge, Katush’s Katungulu Mwendwa are championing women at the creative helm of their brands, overcoming not just gender barriers but also the hurdles of coming from outside fashion’s main hubs.

Being an emerging brand has never been easy, but the rising talents today face a particularly difficult environment marked by economic and geopolitical volatility and a fashion system in flux. Independent brands are having to make it on their own, often paying out of pocket to travel to connect with buyers and retailers, most of which still don’t wander far from fashion’s epicentres, and simultaneously using social media to connect with broader audiences and organically grow their visibility.

Despite these challenges, they’re building globally resonant businesses. Together, they offer a vision of the industry’s future.

Mmusomaxwell (Johannesburg, South Africa)

When Mmuso Potsane and Maxwell Boko met during a fashion internship in 2015, they decided to merge their similar aesthetic visions rather than compete. “Our cultural heritage isn’t a theme — it’s innate,” said Potsane. “It comes from our mothers, aunts and grandmothers. It’s who we are, and we both wanted to reflect that in our work.”

Over the last three years, the Johannesburg-based duo has gained global traction with its precise tailoring and minimalist silhouettes, with its designs taking inspiration from the internet and digital culture as much as South Africa. The duo adheres to a “slow fashion” philosophy, making products to order, which fits with its mission of empowering South Africa’s local economy. It uses 100 percent traceable local wool and works with local artisans to highlight the country’s craftsmanship and textiles.

“We’re not trying to replicate our culture,” said Boko. “We’re recontextualizing it, to expand people’s view of African fashion — to show it can be refined, architectural and not limited to prints.”

Potsane added, “Ideally if Western buyers met designers halfway instead of expecting all investment to come from this end it would reduce the financial burdens on emerging designers and actually foster a more inclusive global fashion ecosystem.”

Magda Butrym (Warsaw, Poland)

For Magda Butrym, femininity is at the core of her designs. “I like women so much,” she exclaimed after her SS26 runway show. “I like beauty. I want women to feel confident.”

The Warsaw-based designer has built a globally recognised label around a sensual approach that fuses modern aesthetics with local, handcrafted heritage. Working from Poland gives her brand a distinctive lens. “It’s rare to use artisans from this part of Europe,” she said. “But it’s what gives our work its depth. Living in Warsaw, far from the fashion capitals, gives me a different point of view.”

As creative director, Butrym balances that romanticism with a sharp business pragmatism that has helped the brand achieve significant international growth. The US is now its largest market, and the brand plans to open a flagship in New York City in 2026.

Campillo (Mexico City, Mexico)

After his first stint making clothes as a side project while a student abroad in Paris, Patricio Campillo launched his own label upon returning to Mexico 10 years ago. “There was cultural appropriation in my work in the beginning,” laughed Campillo. “It was really just me trying to find a voice until the pandemic.”

Then came a eureka moment at his family’s ranch on the outskirts of Mexico City. “I started seeing all of my dad’s antiquity collection, all the things with charro references I grew up with, and I just understood that no one had lived the life that I’ve lived, and it was like, ‘Bingo, this is it’ …And I started the work of recontextualising my heritage into my designs.”

Today, Campillo’s brand is an homage to his unique upbringing and known for architectural pieces with Mexican cultural references, made by local artisans with natural materials sourced from small, family-owned workshops. Campillo acknowledged that the road to recognition has been challenging, given the lack of support for emerging labels outside the fashion system’s capital cities, but his origins are also integral to who he is as a fashion designer.

“My eagerness to be proud of where I’m from and just having a contemporary view on my own culture has allowed me to create something fresh that has not been seen before, and that’s a powerful thing,” he said.

Conner Ives (London, UK)

After witnessing the extent of waste in fashion factories as a 16-year-old, young designer Conner Ives, originally from Bedford, New York, knew if he ever built a brand it would be centred on sustainability. Cut to the present and Ive’s eponymous label, launched in 2021, is known for unique styles that reconstitute materials and bridge luxury and accessibility.

“I want my clothes to inspire others to be more aware about the environment and the fashion supply chain,” said Ives. “My mission is to bridge the gap between different customer segments and create a community that values conscious fashion.”

But the 29-year-old designer’s brand vision also goes beyond promoting circularity, especially after gaining viral recognition in 2025 with his “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, which raised over $600,000 for the non-profit Trans Lifeline.

“That recognition renewed my sense of purpose,” Ives said. “It was humbling and a bit surreal, but it shows that fashion and culture are powerful tools to bring people together and enact positive change.”

KML (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

Siblings Ahmed and Razan Hassan founded their menswear brand KML in 2022, as an endeavour to make clothing that was contemporary but inspired by the timeless principles of Saudi culture.

“Fashion is a form of body covering that carries cultural and spiritual meaning,” said Ahmed. “It’s about becoming more perfect when you dress up, and KML reflects that belief, because true beauty is universal, timeless, and it transcends cultural boundaries.”

With KML, the design duo has revived traditional Arabic clothing through minimalistic, versatile designs that blend heritage with modernity. While based in Saudi Arabia, with support from the Saudi 100 and Fashion Commission the brand’s reach has grown organically to Europe over the past three years, finding dedicated audiences in Paris, Berlin and London.

“We design for balance,” says Ahmad. “Our garments are malleable, they can be styled in multiple ways, without visible logos, so they become part of the wearer’s own story wherever they are in the world.”

Auralee (Tokyo, Japan)

Tokyo-based designer Ryota Iwai, founder of Auralee, has built his label around material innovation and uncompromising attention to process. Fabric is the cornerstone of his design language. Each season begins with a feeling that guides his technical exploration. His most recent collection explored “the mood of transition” — the excitement between the cold and the warmth of spring.

“Figuring out fabric is about balance,” he said. “Functionality, appearance and comfort all play a vital role. There’s no point in making something beautiful that doesn’t serve a purpose.”

Iwai’s brand is deeply rooted in Japan, where he’s able to oversee the entire production process for his clothing, and it’s been key to his brand’s growing international acclaim. His debut show at Paris men’s week in January 2024 was a steep learning curve — being a runway newbie was the biggest challenge of his career so far, he said. Yet from that moment, Auralee’s reputation has flourished organically, reaching a level of recognition Iwai said he never anticipated.

“If something is of true quality, it will last a long time,” he said. “That’s how we can fight wastefulness, by supporting local, traditional craftsmanship that should continue into the next generation.”

Kartik Research (Delhi, India)

After starting his brand in 2021 with a mere 20 pieces financed with sneaker resale money, Kartik Kumra realised his passions lay elsewhere than the economics major he was pursuing.

“There was this whole lane of directional menswear — especially from Japan — that felt committed to its vision,” he recalled. “But we didn’t really have anything like that from India. But it became obvious to me after visiting a few textile hubs at home that there was a way to do it — to make something that wasn’t just good for India, but simply, good.”

In 2025, Kartik Research became the first Indian menswear brand to officially show at Paris Fashion Week, garnering attention for contemporary clothing that has reframed Indian artisanal heritage and textile traditions for a global audience.

“We’ve been learning as we’ve grown,” said Kumra. “At the start there was no PR, no big team pushing us out to retailers— just kids on Instagram picking it up organically.”

Today, remaining based in Delhi is central to Kumra’s vision to grow the brand outside of fashion’s historic capitals. “The business would collapse if I just lived in Paris,” he said. “Especially in this current moment, there’s an oversaturation, dumbing down of high-end products, and I’m looking to build something that still has its integrity.”

Katush (Nairobi, Kenya)

For Nairobi-based designer Katungulu Mwendwa, working outside fashion’s traditional hubs has been both a challenge and a gift. “In some fashion capitals, the systems are in place — the machine works,” she explained. “Here, you wear so many hats on your own. There’s limited to no support when starting out.”

But her location has also given her a different vantage point that has shaped her vision as a designer. “I get to share a different perspective with the world,” she said. “Designing from Kenya means globalisation plays a role in how I work, but there will always be a cultural element that’s unique to me.”

Known for her experimental approach to shape and volume and her sustainable techniques, Mwendwa has spent over a decade refining a brand language rooted in research and craft. Her consciousness of fashion’s environmental footprint runs deep. After becoming a designer, she began to realise how destructive the industry can be. She strives to make clothing that her customers will keep for years, or maybe even hand down.

“It might sound counterintuitive as a designer, but I actually want people to feel inspired to make their own garments — to think differently about the value and cultural meaning of clothing,” she said. “I hope to change the way we consume.”

Ruohan (Shanghai, China)

For Ruohan Nie, being scrupulous in every part of the creative process is crucial. “Not just the final fashion but also the supply chain, fabrics, yarns— all of it matters,” she said.

For the Shanghai- based, Parson’s educated designer, whose work has been recognised for its delicate fabrications and fluid silhouettes, driven by local craftsmanship and sustainable practices, the aim is to change the global perception of Chinese fashion. Since joining the Paris Fashion Week calendar in 2022, Nie has embraced an aesthetic that showcases Chinese fluidity but also has a Western structural grounding.

“I want people to think of Chinese style as poetic and inspired by philosophy, not just literal representations and cultural motifs like red and gold threads,” she explained.

It hasn’t always been easy to convince Western buyers of her creative vision, but Nie believes her work and that of many other emerging brands can be worn by anyone, anywhere.

“I think our generation of designers are intrinsically globally minded,” she said.”

Sinéad O’Dwyer (Dublin, Ireland)

For Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer, the journey into fashion was anything but conventional. Being from the countryside, she didn’t grow up around fashion. Her background lies in the world of art and craft, but once she came across Iris van Herpen’s work, she pivoted.

Today, O’Dwyer is known for her body-inclusive approach to design and her commitment to challenging traditional beauty and sizing standards. “Culturally, I want to help shift luxury toward inclusivity — to design for more types of bodies,” she said. “Representation on runways and campaigns is changing, and I hope those ideas start to filter down to the high street.”

Bringing this vision to life can pose financial challenges. Producing multiple styles per size each season is expensive, and the wholesale system currently isn’t built for that. “It’s been a learning curve — you make mistakes that could end everything. But it’s also been about figuring out how to pivot, how to cast inclusively, how to make the runway reflect real diversity.”

O’Dwyer hopes her work will reshape not only wardrobes but the system itself, with quality and longevity at the core of her garments. “They’re adjustable, meant to be kept and passed on,” she said.

Meryll Rogge (Antwerp, Belgium)

With over a decade of experience at Marc Jacobs and Dries Van Noten, Belgian designer Meryll Rogge brings a mix of a wealth of knowledge to her eponymous brand, which she established over four years ago. “Working within big houses helped me understand systems, but being independent lets me question them,” she said.

Rogge designs for men and women interchangeably; the only real difference is fit. It’s a philosophy that mirrors her eclectic influences. “You are what you consume,” she said. “In my life there are high-end references — art, cinema — but I’m also interested in reading threads on Reddit. I like to move between both worlds.”

That sensibility has helped win over fans including Italian fashion house Marni, which named her its new creative director in July. Rogge also launched knitwear brand B.B. Wallace with co-founder Sarah Allsopp this year. Despite her success, independence can still be a challenge, but it also gives her an avenue to express what she wants without restraint. “You’re your own boss, which is exhilarating,” she said.

Diotima (New York, USA)

When Jamaica-born Rachel Scott launched Diotima in 2021, she was determined to create a fashion voice rooted in artisan traditions rather than trends. From the onset she worked hand in hand with Jamaican crochet and macramé artisans, treating them as design collaborators rather than mere craft suppliers.

Scott’s brand has built its following with a clear mission: to create fashion that is socially engaged, non‑extractive and celebrates heritage.Her sensual, textural approach has made her a standout voice in design. In 2024, she became the first Black woman to win the CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year. She also holds honours as a runner-up for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (2023) and finalist for the LVMH Prize.

In September 2025, Scott was named creative director of Proenza Schouler, with her first full collection set for Autumn/Winter 2026.

CFCL (Tokyo, Japan)

Shaken by fashion’s waste problem, former Issey Miyake designer Yusuke Takahashi founded CFCL, short for Clothing for Contemporary Life, with a mission to build a global Japanese brand grounded in sustainability and innovation.

“I tell this to younger designers in Japan often, but living in the climate crisis today, the most important thing is making clothes with meaning for society,” says Takahashi. “Instead of just constantly creating and upgrading clothes for the sake of it, my hope is for more people in global fashion to see that technology can help in this mission, and make a sustainable supply chain mainstream.”

Today, CFCL’s aesthetic trademark is minimal designs which emphasise functionality and modesty inspired by Mingei, the Japanese arts and crafts movement. But for Takashi, the now five-year-old label’s true distinction lies in its commitment to circularity and a solution-oriented mindset.

The brand uses innovations such as 3D knitting and embraces fibres like recycled polyester. Recently it has established what it calls a “closed-loop” system, selling second hand garments that it collects, sorts and repairs itself.

Takahashi’s ambition is to use this approach as a springboard to building a global brand.

“Many Japanese brands are recognised abroad like Issey Miyake, Comme des Garçons… but internally the scale of the industry is small and the domestic market is massive, so there’s little interest in going global even from innovative brands,“ he added. “I wanted to change that.”

Robert Wun (London, UK)

To Robert Wun, fashion has always been personal.

“Fashion is an expression of time, emotion and culture,” said Wun. “If it were only business, it would just be the clothing industry.”

The London-based, Hong Kong–born designer is best known for his cinematic couture. Though he’s been building his label for more than a decade, he came to prominence after the pandemic with the launch of a collection dedicated to his late grandmother that brought him international acclaim and a debut on the Paris couture calendar.

Craftsmanship is central to Wun’s brand philosophy. He called artisans “the true heroes of fashion” and pointed to the behind-the-scenes work of people such as embroiderers and metalworkers who make his designs possible.

While Wun acknowledges the industry’s growing inclusivity, he remains wary of tokenism.

“The system still labels us by identity instead of artistry,” he said. “But Paris reminded me that real creativity has no nationality…not everyone needs to fit into a certain model of what the industry always tells us is required to be a successful designer. In the end it’s about your aesthetic having integrity, purpose and emotion, that’s what lasts.”

To read more about the emerging designers in this year’s BoF 500, explore their profiles in the Class of 2025.