SAKS UNVEILS CAMPAIGN CELEBRATING THE THIRD YEAR OF DESIGNER ACCELERATOR PROGRAM, THE NEW WAVE PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

by John Russel Jones Sep 14, 2023



Saks is celebrating the graduation of the third class of its designer accelerator program, The New Wave, presented by Mastercard, with a dedicated marketing campaign. The campaign features all eight participants from the program: Armando Cabral, Áwet, Bernard James, Elisamama, Interior, June 79, Renowned and Sorellina. Saks will feature participating brands across its digital channels, showcasing each designer’s background and their Pre-Fall and Fall collections available on Saks.com. Additionally, each participant is featured in the Saks Fall Fashion Book and in a special window installation at the Saks Fifth Avenue New York flagship, on display now through Wednesday, September 20.

Image, above: The-New-Wave-Graduation: John-Dean III, Jack Miner, Bernard-James, Awet Woldegebriel, Shawn Pean, Tracy Margolies, Armando Cabral, Fisayo Che, Kelsey Lynch, Kim Carosella, Jillian Mershon, and Anna Irving.

To celebrate the designers in the program, Saks hosted an intimate cocktail party on Wednesday, September 13 at L’Avenue at Saks. Each designer was also featured in a dedicated Saks Live where they shared their brand stories and inspirations and highlighted their latest collections.

“Saks plays an important role in shaping the luxury fashion industry. With this program, we are proud to play our part to platform and develop the next generation of talent, all while furthering our commitment to increase representation in our assortment,” noted Tracy Margolies, Chief Merchandising Officer, Saks. “We look forward to seeing how each participating designers’ businesses will flourish at Saks and beyond.”

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2023 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

This year’s New Wave program included:

  • Onboarding bootcamp at Saks’ corporate headquarters in New York City.
  • Cross-functional advisory sessions with leaders from key areas across the Saks business, including merchandising, marketing, public relations, and business operations.
  • Round table sessions with noteworthy industry experts and designers, including Samira Nasr, Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s Bazaar, LaQuan Smith, Kobi Halperin, Pierre Maheo of Officine General, Kay Hong of Proenza Schouler and David Kirsch, formerly of Mudrick Capital.
  • Access to workshops to support brands with small business know-how, provided by industry experts and partners including Mastercard, Launch Collective, NuORDER, SKYPAD, and more 
  • Opportunity to apply for a $10,000 grant to support business operations and growth.