New York to add Men's fashion week to its line up?

In the run up New York's Fashion Week, rumors have been circulating that the city may be next on the list to add a separate Men's Fashion

Week as soon as next July, following in the footsteps of London, Paris and Milan.

There is no doubt that men's wear has seen a recent boom over the past few years. According to Euromonitor International, menswear has increased more rapidly than its female counterpart, with global sales growing just short of 5 percent in 2013, as the men fashion market is predicted to hit 450 billion dollars this year.

New York has been slower than its international counterpart to capitalize on this growing interest in men's wear, it hasn't completely been neglecting the fashion category. Prior to the official start of New York Fashion Week, the NYFW Men's Day event took place on September 3, during which Antonio Azzuolo, Bespoken, Carlos Campos, Lucio Castro, Stephen F, Gents, David Hart, J. Lindeberg, Original Penguin and Marlon Gobel held presentations at Industria Superstudios.

Esquire magazine is also keen to acknowledge the boom in men's wear and will also be hosting a three-day event during NYFW, which will feature shows from Haspel and Proper Cloth. The Council of Fashion Designers of America, who recently took over the Fashion Calender, has already taken note of this growing interest.

“We have a lot of boxes we can check off as of now,” said Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA to WWD. “We have enough designers who could be a collective of talent in both emerging and established that would make a strong statement for American designers. The Mayor, New York City and the New York City Economic Development Corp. are very supportive of our work around all the collections. And we have enough venues and locations around the city to hold it.”

However, he also highlighted the one big issue surrounding the introduction of a men's fashion week in New York. “Funding. Without the money, and a substantial amount of it, it’s not going to happen.” He added that the CFDA had been “actively engaged” over the past 18 months to secure sponsorships, but that they still had a long way to go. “We need more funding for venue rentals. Travel for international editors, it takes marketing promotion, production costs and more. I feel like I’m halfway there, but I need to get a little bit more there.”