A CLEVELAND FASHION RENAISSANCE
Cleveland is what’s known as a hidden gem in the fashion community. Without the presence of a formal fashion week for nearly a decade, the fashion community’s light has dimmed – kept alive by small independent fashion shows and occasional home-grown brands.
With the push to have the Cleveland Fashion Gala in 2024, we set out to come back and come back strong. With the clear vision of creating Cleveland’s version of the Met Gala, we embarked on the largest and most ambitious fashion show production in Cleveland history. Many people doubted whether it could be done. Sponsors withheld sponsorships to take a wait-and-see approach, having heard grand visions before with poor execution. But we proved the doubters and naysayers wrong and the success of the Cleveland Fashion Gala spread far and wide with news coverage and interest reaching as far as Australia.
While we could rest on our laurels and just produce another Cleveland Fashion Gala, we recognized our limitations. We had 85 models, but we could have easily cast over 120. We had 8 designers, but the list of designers who wanted to be involved was easily triple that. One event couldn’t do Cleveland’s fashion industry full justice. There’s simply too much talent to showcase in one evening. The need was clear. It was time for Cleveland to have its own fashion week again!
BIGGER AND BETTER IN YEAR TWO
Hot on the heels of the successful 2024 Cleveland Fashion Gala, the Sweetest Day Foundation and the David Njoku Foundation have continued their partnership to produce a Second Annual 2025 Cleveland Fashion Gala with the proceeds going to support their amazing charities.
NEW AND EMERGING DESIGNERS AND MODELS
CLE Fashion Week intends to nurture new designers and provide new models with their first-ever chance to earn a Fashion Week walking credit. CLE Fresh will be exactly that, a fashion show where how long you’ve been around will actually get you excluded. We want to see fresh ideas, fresh faces, and new innovations. Everyone deserves a place to start and launch. CLE Fresh will provide that platform.
ROCK-THEMED FASHION SHOW
Cleveland is the rock-n-roll capital of the world and home to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. It seems only appropriate that CLE Fashion Week have a rock-themed fashion show to showcase avant-garde, couture fashion houses and collections. Where better to showcase this than the Rock Hall itself.
YES. CLEVELAND HAS BEACHES!
Most people who have never been to Cleveland do not realize that we are a very swim forward community with beautiful summertime beaches. CLE Fashion Week will have a swim-only fashion show to highlight impressive swimwear designs. Working with the City of Cleveland, we will utilize the beautiful pavilion at Edgewater Park to have the first of many CLE SWIM fashion shows.