Steven Kolb, the chief executive of the Council Of Fashion Designers Of America (CFDA), the US fashion industry’s leading trade organisation, was placed on leave Monday (Sept 14) after a physical altercation he had with two animal welfare activists on Sunday (Sept 13).
In a statement, a spokesperson for the organisation said: “The CFDA takes this matter very seriously, and as a result, Mr Kolb will be on leave pending a full review."
"The CFDA as an organisation is committed to working with dissenting voices to find commonality and is engaged in efforts to move the American fashion industry forward while upholding the values of our membership.”
The incident in question took place in the WSA building at 175 Water Street in Manhattan in the middle of New York Fashion Week.
A group of animal rights activists from the organisation People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (Peta) stormed the runway show for COS, a contemporary fashion brand owned by H&M.
Read more: All eyes on New York Fashion Week as its first full fur ban takes effect
The COS show is not a fashion presentation that’s at the top of anyone’s fashion week calendars, and even the Peta protesters’ disruption might have gone unremarked on were it not for what happened next.
As the demonstrators began screaming to get sheep’s wool off the runway, Kolb rose from his seat by a wall of windows and physically restrained at least two of the activists, wrestling one to the ground and covering her mouth.
The confrontation was captured on video by the website Fashionista and quickly became all fashion week attendees could talk about as they sat for shows across town.
It also drew widespread attention online, where people began to call for action to be taken against Kolb.
Shortly after the proceedings, Kolb, 65, issued a statement acknowledging that he had “reacted inappropriately”.
“It wasn’t my place to do so,” he continued. “I should have let the security team handle the situation.”
The unfolding scandal placed the organisation in what four board members said in interviews was an impossible predicament, involving a CEO who is known for being mild-mannered.
He is also a vegetarian who was centrally involved in a successful effort to get fur off the runway.
The confrontation, however, points to a wider conversation in fashion about how sustainability intersects with animal welfare, ethics and the industry’s responsibilities to its critics.
Some said it was not clear from the video what took place before the altercation. Yet what was shown occurring seemed impossible to defend.
A couple of them were aggrieved at Peta for staging a demonstration so soon after the organisation clocked a major win but felt powerless to say anything, wary of looking as though they were blaming a victim.
“He’s the sweetest person in the world, vegetarian and anti-fur,” said Diane Von Furstenberg, the organisation’s former chair, speaking Monday (Sept 14) morning by phone.
She said she believed that he is not a violent person, but added: “Of course, he was wrong.”
Asked whether she thought he could survive the episode professionally, she said, “I don’t know.”
Over the next several hours, board members called and texted one another. Conversations took place about bringing in outside counsel (that appears to be happening, two board members said).
Kolb, according to Von Furstenberg, was “devastated”. But so were board members.
On Monday (Sept 14), Kolb went on Instagram to put out another statement, apologising further for his behaviour.
In this one, posted to his Instagram stories, he said he had “inappropriately restrained” two protesters, and said “there is no justification for that”.
“As I review the videos, I understand the reaction they have generated,” he continued.
“Frankly, I don’t recognise that person. As a result, I am taking a voluntary leave from work and meeting with a professional to ensure it never happens again.”
The Fashionista video showed Kolb rising from his seat and pushing a young male protester, later identified as Mason Melito, who described himself as a senior campaigner with Peta.
Later in the video, Kolb can be seen with his hand over Melito’s mouth and pressing his face against the window, seemingly to prevent him from screaming.
Read more: Fashion still embraces John Galliano, but the wider world isn’t so forgiving
The video from Fashionista quickly drew opprobrium beyond the fashion world, as public sentiment has turned sharply against the ways in which top industry professionals wield power.
Just a few weeks earlier, the Metropolitan Museum Of Art drew intense backlash when it announced – and later scrapped – plans for an exhibit at the Anna Wintour Costume Center focused on the career of John Galliano, a designer who in 2011 was convicted in a French court of hate crimes, after making a series of antisemitic and anti-Asian remarks in public while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
On an episode of The New Maturity podcast released in May, Kolb said he had been thinking about whether he should “end this part” of his career at the end of 2025.
“As I get older, I look at myself and I wonder what my role is, or should I be moving on and letting someone who is younger come into this position?” Kolb said.
But he reconsidered, adding that “being older isn’t necessarily a bad thing”.
“It’s a really good thing in that you still have the history, the experience, the insight, and the ability to feel confident with all of that,” he said, “but also the trust to allow others who are younger to be part of decisions you’re making or part of things that you’re building.” – ©2026 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
