Steven Kolb, who has been chief executive officer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America for two decades, has found himself in the center of the biggest story of New York Fashion Week.
Following news Monday that Kolb has been put on leave by the CFDA board, WWD spoke to designers, colleagues and a legal expert about what this means for a potential return and the future of the organization. As reported, Kolb physically restrained two PETA protesters at the Cos fashion show Sunday afternoon — who were protesting using sheep’s wool on the runway. Later that afternoon, Kolb said that he reacted “inappropriately” and should have let the security team handle the situation.
The situation was caught on video and spread widely on social media and throughout the industry. Cos is a division of H&M Group.
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Kolb posted a lengthy apology on Instagram Stories on Monday, which said in part, “My actions were wrong and I am deeply sorry. I take full responsibility for my actions. I apologize to them and to everyone who witnessed the incident. There is no justification for physically restraining another person. Security should have handled the situation, and I should have stepped back. Nothing about the circumstances excuses my actions…”
PETA, which originally said Sunday it planned to file a police report and criminal charges against Kolb, on Tuesday appeared to be trying to defuse the controversy. “We went to the police station to memorialize the incident and found out that is not how it works in New York City, so we reported the chain of events to our attorneys,” it said. “Right now we look forward to sitting down with Kolb and showing footage from our 17 undercover investigations of sheep being beaten and left bloody for wool so he can see why so many people are calling for it to be left off the runway.”
PETA president Tracy Reiman sent a letter to Kolb on Monday, extending an olive branch and offering to meet, as reported.
Stan Herman, the designer and a CFDA board member, said Tuesday, “I hired Steven 20 years ago, so he’s my guy. It’s an unfortunate situation which will work out beautifully by the board.”
While he couldn’t divulge what exactly went on at the board meeting discussing Kolb’s actions, he said they are working it out. He said they were very much in unison. “Some people are more perturbed than others. He’s done a very good job for 20 years, and to wipe away 20 years is an unfortunate situation.” He said it’s unreal “how your life can change so quickly.”
“I’m hoping this will come out with a good ending,” said Herman.
Tracy Reese, who is also on the CFDA board and is the founder and creative director of Hope for Flowers by Tracy Reese, said, “I think all of our hearts are super heavy. It’s been challenging. The team at CFDA is so amazing, and a lot of that is a credit to Steven, and they’re a really strong team, they’ll be able to carry out all the work that’s in play.
“Obviously we have a heavy slate of events and responsibilities through the end of the year. But they are always ready to meet the challenges to come. We’re really all in support mode, whatever we can do to support the organization. It’s not just about Steven, it’s about American fashion and what that means to the world and to the country and New York, and all the above. We’re just trying to keep moving forward and delivering on everything that’s been promised,” said Reese.
Asked if Kolb would be on a long leave, she said, “It depends. It’s hard to say. There’s a lot that needs to be determined. It’s early days. All of that is being worked out. [CFDA chairman] Thom Browne’s show is today, so it’s a crazy week for this to happen,” said Reese. She said there were board meetings on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
As for who will ultimately make the decision, Reese said, “It will be a combination of the board of directors and legal advice.”
Reese continued about Kolb. “He’s been tremendously supportive of New York fashion, American fashion, and so many amazing causes that CFDA has been instrumental supporting and funding. That’s huge. What happened was so insane and unfortunate and we’re all spinning, and it’s just not the person that we know,” said Reese. “And I think he probably feels the same way.
“Everyone’s just bewildered and a lot of people are feeling bad and hurt, but the work is what happens going forward. There are some things still being determined. Our job is to support the team at CFDA, and make sure all the programming continues beautifully, and these [CFDA] awards go off seamlessly. There are so many things coming up. It does give you a view into the incredible breadth of the job,” said Reese.
Would they name someone else as interim CEO? “We’ll see, there’s a lot of discussion going on and it’s a tumultuous week. More to come,” she said.
Diane von Furstenberg, who has worked closely with Kolb when she was chairwoman of the CFDA, wasn’t at Monday night’s board meeting, although she’s on the board. “I think it’s so sad. Steven is completely vegan. He won’t put a fish on his plate. He fought with the board so that we’d have no fur on the catwalk. This is just unfortunate. He wanted to defend the brand. I’m not excusing him. The first thing I said is, ‘you have to apologize.’ But it hurts me,” said von Furstenberg.
Fern Mallis, a fashion consultant who was executive director of the CFDA from 1991 to 2001, said, “The whole situation is unfortunate. I hope Steven comes through this. It was very out of character. In my opinion, the whole fault of the event was the lack of proper security. For 20 years and beyond, we’ve had Citadel Security. They trained all of their security to deal with protesters — and god knows we’ve had our share of them with PETA — they always handle it professionally and quickly.” She said she doesn’t think there was enough security at the show. “There was one person who escorted that first guy out, so why didn’t he run to that woman when Steven stood up?”
“It’s sad. I feel bad for Steven and the whole industry. It’s tarnished the epic event of fashion week. We’ve survived many things. We will survive this as well as an industry. It’s unfortunate that it happened,” said Mallis.
Ty Yorio, co-owner of Citadel Security, doesn’t know which company Cos hired for security, but his company has handled thousands of fashion shows over his 33-year career. “Designers need to take security seriously. They spend more money on flowers than they do on security. They need to wake up,” he said. Yorio said Cos appeared to have only one person doing security at the show. “He was out-numbered,” he said. He said that having security is part of doing a show. “People will get in, somewhere, somehow,” he said.
Susan Scafidi, professor of law at Fordham Law School and the founder and academic director of the Fashion Law Institute, said, “He [Kolb] apologized. It is serious. But he also has 20 years at the CFDA of dealing with very difficult individuals and situations. So I’m sure they will have a serious conversation as they clearly have, and will take everything into account.”
Asked whether she feels Kolb should keep his job after he is rehabilitated, she said, “It’s hard for me to say. I do think it’s important to have the results of a full investigation. I’ve known Steven a long time. There are people who have known him and spent even more close time with him and find this very out of character. I don’t think of him as an aggressive person, a violent person. I would say Steven is relatively conflict-averse. I work in law. We do not shy away from conflict. One of the things I think of about Steven is he does not like conflict.
“Obviously he would have to tell you what was on his mind, but to me, it was an instinct to defend fashion week,” said Scafidi.
She said she read Kolb’s Substack from the day before it happened where he pulled back the curtain on fashion week. “He actually noted in his Substack that he had been over the years screamed at, threatened, hung up on. He’s used to a degree of aggression and frustration around fashion week, and this was perhaps in the moment during the show just a bridge too far,” said Scafidi.
Scafidi said Kolb has talked about retiring and he may decide at some point he wants to do that. “I would not be surprised if there’s a vein of sentiment among designers, in particular, of thank you for defending us,” she said. “It’s not easy to put your dreams and your livelihood on the line, and present a show to buyers and editors. Months of work go into that and then it’s disrupted in this way,” she said.
From the legal perspective, PETA said they were going to file a police report against Kolb. “It’s in New York. There is no crime of assault unless an individual is physically harmed. So unless one of the protesters is alleging they were harmed, probably the worst he could be charged with is disorderly conduct, basically the charge of getting in a bar fight, as long as nobody’s harmed. Interestingly that’s the same exact charge that could be brought against the protesters: disorderly conduct plus trespass. And it is the right of a private property owner, in this case the building owner, working as security representing that building owner to peacefully remove as someone who is trespassing.
“No, you may only use reasonable force. You can’t escalate. If they pull out a gun, you can pull out a gun. Bet if they don’t, you’re not supposed to use any kind of unreasonable force. We saw the images of security walking the protesters out afterwards. That is absolutely par for the course. So I think the threat to file a police report and ask this to be pursued criminally is probably not a serious threat because in fact, disorderly conduct is not even a crime. It’s a violation. It doesn’t result in a criminal record,” said Scafidi. “The only other thing, again, and this would only happen if someone is alleging they were harmed, is some kind of civil action against Steven and/or the CFDA.”
But she said it’s hard to tell if anyone was harmed. “There was no blood on the floor, and they looked like they walked out,” she said.
As for the letter from PETA offering an olive branch, Scafidi said, “This was a bid for attention.”
A Cos spokesperson said Tuesday, “We are deeply sorry about the incident that occurred in connection with our AW26 show on 13 September. The priority for us and the event’s security team was always the safety of all guests, participants and colleagues in attendance.”
Cos’s managing director and director of the house Daniel Herrmann was seated next to Kolb during the fashion show.
“When it comes to PETA’s allegations on wool sourced by H&M Group, we can share that we only source animal-serviced fibers from certified farms and, where possible, from recycled sources. All virgin wool and mohair used in our products come from farms certified by the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) and the Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS). Both third-party certification systems are owned and governed by Textile Exchange,” said the Cos spokesperson.
“Following the investigations carried out by the certification body into PETA’s allegations related to mohair and wool farms, licenses for one mohair and one wool farm have been suspended, and these farms are no longer permitted to sell certified materials.”
