Atlanta Business Chronicle: “Atlanta emerges as a fashion capital with homegrown brands, major global designers”
May 29th, 2025
In late 2023, when longtime Atlanta fashion staples Sid and Ann Mashburn opened a store on Madison Avenue, the New York Times referred to the couple as "upstarts" from the fashion "hinterlands."
Atlanta may not be the traditional capital of American fashion, but for the Mashburns, it's the center of the map.
The Mashburns opened their menswear store in 2007 in the then-up-and-coming Westside Provisions District and added their womenswear store in 2010.
They've since expanded their lifestyle brand across the nation, with stores in Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, Houston, Washington, D.C.; and a recently opened location in Nashville, Tennessee. There are more to come, including a shop set to open soon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
What started as Sid, Ann and Elizabeth - the 35-year-old eldest of five daughters, who has played a key role in the business since its establishment and is also known as "employee No. 3" - has grown to a company of around 200 employees, with 126 based in Atlanta.
The family has built a brand rooted in Southern charm, classic design and retail savvy. Now, the Mashburns are doubling down on Atlanta by expanding their headquarters.
The company has outgrown its West Midtown home, and it's moving from the ground level to the two top floors at Westside Provisions District. The new 20,350-square-foot office, scheduled to open in late summer, will increase the Mashburns' space by 50%.
While at one point, the Mashburns' success story may have seemed like an anomaly - and to some outsiders in the fashion industry, it still might - the expansion is emblematic of Atlanta's emergence as a fashion capital. The city has a growing presence of large labels from elsewhere and is cultivating smaller labels from within.
Lauren Amos, an entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Atlanta, said that over the past decade the city's "confidence and visibility" have skyrocketed, with major luxury houses "finally" acknowledging Atlanta's "significance".
"Ten years ago, fashion in Atlanta was very underground and DIY. There were people with incredible taste and talent but very little infrastructure," Amos said.
Amos opened street-style store Wish on Moreland Avenue in 2004, then high-fashion mecca Ant/dote in West Midtown in 2022. She recently pledged millions to the High Museum of Art to establish fashion programming.
Now, she sees Atlanta becoming a force of fashion in its own right.
"A fashion capital isn't just about runway shows or flagship stores; it encompasses creativity, storytelling and cultural relevance," she said. "Atlanta has all of that in abundance."
Abbey Glass, whose womenswear label has expanded from a flagship store in Buckhead Village to brick-and-mortars in Dallas and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as a partnership with Dillard's, said Atlanta "has the confidence to stand on its own from a style and retail standpoint."
"Hopefully there will be even more home-grown brands and retail concepts entering the market in the near future," she said.
Paula Wallace, the founder and president of Savannah College of Art and Design, calls Atlanta home. She said in a presentation presenting a 4-D experience to SCAD's Atlanta campus that Georgia's capital wasn't always ready for a creative institution.
But now, celebrating 20 years since the growing campus was established in the city, SCAD's fashion museum brings exclusive exhibitions - most recently the first exhibit in the U.S. dedicated to French haute couture luminary Jeanne Lanvin - along with students from around the globe and mentors from top design houses to Atlanta.
In a recent review of Savannah College of Art and Design's end-of-year runway show at the Atlanta campus - an event that drew journalists and fashion figures from top publications and beyond - Vogue Runway writer José Criales-Unzueta said the fashion program competes with those in major fashion metropolises like London and New York and defeats all expectations.
While Atlanta's fashion scene has come a long way, some say there's room for growth in the sector.
Herb Rhedrick of Herbin Co., a high-end accessories label with a flagship in Phipps Plaza, believes that what Atlanta's fashion scene needs is investment in production.
While hubs such as New York City and London have fabric districts to source from, major labels based within their reaches and easy access to suppliers, the same can't be said for Atlanta.
Megan Huntz, a fashion designer with a degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, who spent much of her career in Europe, returned to her hometown of Atlanta to put down roots with her namesake womenswear line based in sustainability.
"There's a small but mighty movement here that celebrates local talent and values the stories behind the designs, which is exactly what the industry needs more of," said Huntz.
But overall, Huntz agrees with Rhedrick, saying there's a "talent drain here in fashion," meaning SCAD graduates and homegrown talent have to decamp to kickstart their careers.
Atlanta has drawn stores from notable brands, but Huntz wants to see larger fashion companies given the motivation to relocate their headquarters here.
"Think of the incentives made here for the film industry - it could offer new job opportunities for the talented fashion grads in Atlanta who often find themselves having to move to places like New York City or elsewhere," Huntz said. "With the right investment in local talent and infrastructure, I think Atlanta could really flourish in the fashion world."
Sarah Collins, associate chair of marketing and management at SCAD, helped to establish the school's fashion program in Atlanta, watching it balloon from just 30 students in its inaugural year of 2005 to 300 within five years.
When discussing what draws fashion students to the Atlanta campus, she pointed to the diverse range of shopping experiences, but also "established fashion companies" such as Spanx, Carter's, Anne Barge and, of course, Sid and Ann Mashburn.
"Atlanta's fashion identity has evolved from seeking external validation to confidently expressing its unique creative voice that now influences global trends rather than merely following them," Collins said.
Which is to say, Atlanta may still seem like the 'hinterlands' to outsiders, but the city has come into its own.
As Amos put it, "Let them underestimate us."
"Atlanta does not need permission to define its own lane," she said. "We are not trying to copy anyone; we are building something original."
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