The Madison Avenue Business Improvement District Is Collaborating With the CFDA for the First Time

STREET SMARTS: Madison Avenue is preparing to “Step Up for Fashion.”

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That’s the name of an upcoming event organized by the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) along with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, to spotlight the avenue’s high-fashion retailers and raise money for the CFDA’s scholarship fund.

Retailers participating in Step Up for Fashion, scheduled for Sept. 21, will donate 10 percent of their sales on the day to the CFDA scholarship fund, which supports the next generation of fashion designers. The retailers will also be installing temporary outdoor 4-by-4-foot platforms for models showing outfits, from 1 to 3 p.m., and staging in-store activities encouraging customers to come inside and view the new fall collections. The roster of retailers participating in Step Up for Fashion will be disclosed at a later date.

“ Madison Avenue is the epicenter of American as well as global fashion and luxury,” Steven Kolb , the chief executive officer of the CFDA , said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Madison Avenue BID for supporting CFDA Scholarships with Step Up for Fashion and thereby helping CFDA’s important work to secure the future of American fashion.” The event marks the first time that the Madison Avenue BID has collaborated with the CFDA.

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BID officials said Step Up for Fashion will be the centerpiece of its annual “Welcome Back Saturday” celebration typically marked by receptions, special showings and in-store activities at businesses along Madison Avenue from 57th to 86th Streets, the stretch covered by the BID. It’s a program to acknowledge new fall fashions and the return of people to the city after summer vacations, and stimulate shopper traffic on the avenue. The first Welcome Back Saturday was held in September 2020 during COVID-19, when many people left the city for less populated destinations.

The BID has a track record of philanthropy having staged shopping-related events benefiting the Humane Society of New York, The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering, The Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet, among other organizations and charities.

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