These 10 unexpected countries are at the forefront of fashion

Twice a year, fashion lovers the world over flock to four major cities — New York, London, Paris, and Milan — to see the world’s top designers show off their collections during fashion week.

During the biannual fashion weeks, in September and February, these cities can seem synonymous with style itself. Like all industries, however, shifts in the global economy and the increasing influence of social media have altered how both consumers and designers approach the fashion economy.

Ahead of New York’s September fashion week, the Partnership for New York City issued a report indicating the city’s status as a style incubator could be in decline.

In many respects, people in the fashion industry face the same concerns that plague all New Yorkers: too-high rents, fewer available jobs, immigration restrictions, and power players failing to give young, up-and-comers a seat at the table.

“New York produces great fashion design talent. But there is still a gap within the business side of fashion,” said Ben Barry, dean of fashion at Parsons School of Design, in the report. “We need to provide business professionals with opportunities to collaborate with fashion designers. The connections between designers and businesspeople are where we are lacking.”

Between 2014 and 2024, the number of New Yorkers working in the fashion industry declined by nearly 30% — while the number of students receiving degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Pratt Institute, and Parsons has dropped by a third since 2016, The City reported.

There are also industry-specific trends that have stymied the New York fashion world, namely the emergence of fast fashion. Despite the myriad reasons why people object to fast fashion — worker exploitation, disastrous environmental implications, poor-quality products, and “shockingly high levels of lead” in garments — the textile manufacturing industry has largely been exported to fast fashion manufacturers in East Asia.

“New York City is not going to be able to fix the fact the fashion industry writ large has been completely disrupted over the past decade, especially by the low cost of labor in the Far East and the emergence of fast fashion,” said Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for economic development under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to The City.

While New York’s status as a fashion-forward city may be in decline, however, there are other cities on the rise. A recent analysis by Public Desire highlighted 10 cities emerging as “unexpected” fashion hotspots.

The analysis looked at metrics including the number of major fashion events, the availability of top fashion schools, the number of fashion brand headquarters with valuations over $100 million, and the availability of fashion-related jobs to determine which cities made the cut.

Continue reading to learn which countries are emerging as unexpected fashion hotspots.