The Chicago Fashion Coalition (CFC), began when a group of local designers and innovation strategists started working together to remaster and reposition Chicago Fashion Week. Steadfast in the belief in our city as a dominant fashion force, we decided to approach the potential of Chicago Fashion head on.

We knew we had to do something new, so our team was built to be cross functional, from the fashion industry and technology as we focused on innovation. We wanted CFC to be truly driven by what the industry wanted, so we took to the streets with a strategically designed survey to determine what drives this city and what it collectively wants, and our results were thought-provoking, inspiring and powerful. 

We realized that by democratizing our creativity and delivering it to our city’s masses, we can show the world how and why Chicago does it differently. 

Chicago Fashion Coalition was established in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the global fashion industry was dramatically impacted and seeing the early effects of what will likely be lasting change. CFC had to adapt to the major changes to provide value to our local industry and grow a virtual community. We pivoted from Chicago Fashion Week, our original focus, and instead chose to focus on solving Chicago’s challenges with centralization and collaboration.

We decided the best way to move forward was to build a platform that unified all aspects of the value chain of the Chicago fashion ecosystem. We began our months long project to build a website, directory, and most importantly the start of a community.

This is our labor of love for the city of Chicago. Each one of the businesses featured are among the best of the city’s talent and bring their own piece to the industry here. We hope to display this talent in a way that provides opportunity, by highlighting each of you, and sparks growth and connections.

We believe in the potential of Chicago and the potential of the Coalition. We are primarily a web-based platform, but aim to be so much more. We highly encourage you to get involved and leverage us for your own success. We are ecstatic to get started and hope you join us.

With love, from the city that wears its story,

-Taylor Naughton, Founder