Fashion & Luxury Entrepreneurial Business Management Program
About GFBA
The Global Fashion Business Alliance (GFBA) has created a Virtual/Hybrid Fashion Education program for entrepreneurs, designers, and companies within the international fashion and retail industry. The GFBA Academy provides programs to designers and nascent entrepreneurs in emerging markets with best practices and guidance in building sustainable businesses as well as offer advanced individual and cohort based training and support focused on scaling, internationalization, and all aspects of brand and company growth.
The program was developed in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). GEN fosters cross platform collaboration among entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and ecosystem builders supporting businesses in over 180 countries. GEN helps celebrate, understand, support and connect entrepreneurs and those who champion them.
Fashion Business Management Accelerator Program
The GFBA has launched the Fashion & Luxury Entrepreneurial Business Management Program accessible through Flitepath, a digital platform for entrepreneurship acceleration and incubation programs worldwide.
The Fashion & Luxury Entrepreneurial Business Management Program provides the latest information, contacts and resources in collaboration with North America’s top consultants in finance and factoring, supply chain management, digital marketing and retail technologies, legal issues for protecting your brand, accounting, taxes and compliance, experiential branding, marketing and merchandising, and building a sustainable brand.
The Fashion & Luxury Entrepreneurial Business Management Program is aimed at all professional levels in the industry - from CEOs and directors to managers, showroom sales account executives, entry-level associates and students studying fashion design, marketing and merchandising. Professionals with diverse industry backgrounds (fashion, luxury, design, beauty, cosmetics, media, art, gastronomy, etc.) and with high levels of creativity are welcome to join.
Our Live Webinar Series
Our webinar series, started in 2020, is hosted by Beth Sobol, founder and CEO of the GFBA and has featured top fashion business experts from the United States representing respected organizations such as Hilldun Corporation, American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) Hawke Media, Columbus Consulting, PM Business Advisors, Prager Metis CPAs, Pilnick & Associates, Cozen O'Connor P.A., and The Barbarian Agency.
Next Upcoming Webinar
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 @ 11:00am ET
Meet the Fashionistas: A Conversation With Dr. Courtney A. Hammonds
Dr. Courtney A. Hammonds personifies the definition of a renaissance man. With over 20 years of professional experience in multiple industries, Hammonds has built a solid reputation as a multi-gifted and multi-purposed professional in his roles as a global educator, style expert, lifestyle consultant, and author.
Live Webinar Schedule
Meet the Fashionistas: A Conversation With...
A Global Fashion Business Alliance (GFBA) on-going LIVE webinar series. Every two weeks, on Wednesdays at 11:00 am ET, we showcase impressive, interesting and inspiring fashion business conversations / stories with those on the front line. The visionaries, the doers, the disruptors, from all facets of the fashion landscape (apparel, footwear, accessories, etc.) from the US and around the world as well as the ancillary industries that support them in technology, sustainability, logistics, public relations, marketing, etc.
Participating Members
Sponsorship Opportunities
GFBA’s virtual programs are designed to help drive the engagement and connections that propel your business to new heights. To learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and reach our global audience.
GFBA Founder
Beth Sobol
Beth Sobol, founder and CEO of the GFBA is a premier fashion business expert and consultant with a focus on launching the careers of International emerging designers into the American market. Sobol is the founder of the original Miami Fashion Week, one of the top fashion weeks in the world, and developed the platform that gave thousands of international designers their initial launch into the American market. In 2015 she sold the brand to European investors and now focuses on developing educational programming for entrepreneurs in the fashion and luxury brand markets.
Meet the Fashionistas: A Conversation With Dr. Courtney A. Hammonds
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 @ 11:00am ET
Dr. Courtney A. Hammonds personifies the definition of a renaissance man. With over 20 years of professional experience in multiple industries, Hammonds has built a solid reputation as a multi-gifted and multi-purposed professional in his roles as a global educator, style expert, lifestyle consultant, and author.
About Dr. Courtney A. Hammonds
An advocate for Higher Education and a lifelong learner, Dr. Hammonds earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Argosy University. Additionally, he earned a Master's degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Alabama State University.
As an Educator, Dr. Hammonds has worked in the public school system as a special education teacher, and he has proudly served as the Fashion Marketing and Design Department Chair at the Art Institute of Atlanta and the Art Institute of Decatur, where he mentored many of his students in both fashion and marketing. One of his greatest achievements during his tenure at The Art Institute of Atlanta was his introduction of the Gap for Community Colleges program, which was a part of “Skills for America’s Future”, a White House initiative that was launched under the Obama administration for numerous institutions and corporations.
Outside of the classroom, Dr. Hammonds is known as The Dean of Fashion, and a prominent African-American fashion influencer and trendsetter. As a trendsetter, Hammonds is known for his sartorial style and whimsical fashion, and he was previously recognized by Modern Luxury Magazine as one of Atlanta’s most influential style setters. Dr. Hammonds’ influence in fashion led him to becoming the Assistant Human Resources Manager at Neiman Marcus, where he held this position for 6 years.
Due to his expertise in the areas of global education and cutting-edge fashion, Dr. Hammonds has appeared on several syndicated television shows on networks such as Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, and ABC. In addition, he has consulted on private-label ready-to-wear brands and conducted 100+ style seminars all over the world. He has also served as a contributing Fashion Editor for multiple publications, and publishes a yearly fashion edition for Hers Magazine. Under Hammonds’ leadership, the magazine scored collaborations with InStyle which featured several high-profile figures in the fashion industry including: artistic directors Nicolas Ghesquière from Louis Vuitton and Claire Wright Keller from Givenchy, acclaimed womenswear designer, Christian Siriano, and world-renown makeup artist, Daniel Martin.
Outside of writing and editing for high-fashion magazines and lifestyle publications, Dr. Hammonds is the author of 4 books on fashion and philanthropy:
Currently, Dr. Hammonds sits on the board of the St. Lucia Fashion Council where he serves as a global marketing consultant to the island of St. Lucia.
He is also a visiting professor for several universities. In addition to global consulting, working as a contributing writer to multiple publications, authoring books, and working in Higher Education.
Dr. Hammonds is currently a proud resident of Atlanta, GA.
Meet the Fashionistas: A Conversation With Cece Feinberg
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 @ 11:00am ET
For over 20 years Cece Feinberg has been at the forefront of fashion PR. Bringing together a unique mix of art, fashion, and luxury clients. Continuously delivering prestige value that defines and propels brands into that elusive and exclusive luxury market.
About Cece Feinberg
Cece Feinberg began her career in the PR and Marketing Department at Vogue magazine where she worked on the publication’s sponsored events such as the CFDA Awards, the Vogue AIDS Benefit, and the Irving Penn Retrospective. Feinberg started her eponymous agency in 2002 and over the years Feinberg’s client roster has included an exciting list of well-known brands including Wet Seal, Arden B., Bijoux Terner, Daryl K., Tracey Ross, Vitamin A, Jantzen, Perry Ellis, Gen Art, ModCloth, Joanna Mastroianni, Costume National, and Ed Hardy Fragrances to name just a few.
Her agency has also worked with a myriad of brands from around the world including Brazilian brands Iodice, Sobral, Hope Lingerie, and Santa Lolla Footwear; Colombian brands Aqua Bendita and Mercedes Salazar; Australian brands Moov Boots, Hussy and Madame Marie; and French brands Shams denim and Messika fine jewelry.
Recently she has been tapped by the organizers of Bogota Fashion Week and ProColombia as a guest speaker who can advise young and established brands on what they need to know to enter the U.S. market.
She has developed blogs for her own company as well as for her clients and utilizes a variety of digital marketing strategies to grow brand recognition, web presence, and product sales for each depending on the goals of each brand.