CFDA CEO Steven Kolb resigns after confrontation with PETA protesters

Less than a week after a physical altercation with animal welfare activists in the middle of a runway show, Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the fashion industry’s leading trade organisation, has resigned.

“After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down,” he said in a statement on Sept 18. He had been placed on leave on Sept 14 by the organisation, pending a full review of his actions.

The organisation did not name an immediate successor. A statement attributed to the CFDA’s board, which includes leading American designers such as Thom Browne, Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, said: “We respect Steven’s decision to step down and are grateful for his many years of leadership and service to the CFDA and our industry.”

The incident, which took place on Sept 13 at the runway show for COS, a contemporary fashion brand owned by H&M, shocked many in the fashion world and was viewed far and wide in a video posted to Instagram by the news site Fashionista.

Kolb, 64, is shown shoving and placing his hand over the mouth of a young male protester, later identified as Mason Melito, who described himself as a senior campaigner with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The video then shows Kolb pulling a female protester to the ground, using one leg to restrain her as he covers her mouth.

The video has been viewed more than 500,000 times on Instagram, and most of the top comments criticise Kolb’s behaviour and call for action to be taken against him. The broader sentiment in the fashion community was that Kolb’s actions had gone too far.

On Sept 14, Diane von Furstenberg, the CFDA’s former chair, spoke highly of Kolb, calling him the “sweetest person in the world, vegetarian and anti-fur”, but added that “of course, he was wrong”.

The altercation, which occurred just past the midpoint of New York Fashion Week, swiftly became the talk of the front rows at subsequent runway shows.

Kolb issued a statement of apology on Sept 14 through his own Instagram Stories.

“What happened was completely out of character for me, both personally and as a leader,” he wrote. “Frankly, I don’t recognise that person.”

He said he was “meeting with a professional” to ensure it would not happen again.

He said he had accepted PETA’s offer to “meet and discuss their concerns”.

Moira Colley, a PETA spokeswoman, confirmed that Kolb had rescheduled, but that both parties remained interested in meeting.

Kolb, a reliable presence at nearly any fashion event in New York City, was conspicuously absent from the remaining shows of the fashion week.

CFDA provides support for American designers and fashion brands, linking them with manufacturers and other industry contacts. It also strives to keep New York Fashion Week relevant on the global stage, an increasingly challenging task as the fashion capitals of Paris and Milan have soaked up more attention.

Some people outside the industry expressed confusion as to why Kolb reacted so vociferously at a fashion show for a label that is based not in America but in Europe.

According to an e-mail from August touting CFDA’s work for the industry, though, COS was one of several brands that had provided financial support for CFDA’s New York Fashion Week Fund, established in 2022 to help bring over members of the international press and buyers.

In 2026, the group included journalists from Harper’s Bazaar Italia and Vogue Korea, as well as buyers from the French department store Le Bon Marche.

PETA protesters have become a reliable fixture at fashion weeks and have crashed the runways of brands like Hermes, Burberry and Gucci in the past.

In New York, the fashion label Coach has been a favoured target for PETA, spurring the brand to beef up security during recent shows. On Sept 13, protesters at the COS show shouted and held placards decrying the company’s use of sheep’s wool.

As the roving fashion community moved on to its next destination, PETA continued to target H&M. On Sept 17 in London, protesters stormed the H&M runway show carrying signs that read “H&M: Wool is bloody cruel, drop it”.

Those protesters were eventually escorted out by security without further incident. NYTIMES