Fashion Leaders Push Philanthropy Into Core Business Strategy

Philanthropy is no longer being treated like a glossy add-on in fashion and beauty. At FIT’s Social Impact Summit x NYC, leaders from Macy’s, Kate Spade New York and M·A·C made the case that social impact now belongs inside the business model, where it can shape sourcing, customer experience and capital allocation rather than sit off to the side as a seasonal gesture.

The invitation-only gathering at FIT’s Haft Theater brought together more than 700 executives, designers, FIT students and alumni, and advocates focused on equity, sustainability and meaningful change. It built on the momentum of the 2024 and 2025 Social Impact Fund summits in Los Angeles, but the tone in New York was sharper: impact was discussed less as a campaign and more as an operating principle.

Kenneth Cole and Selena Gomez were honored for that shift. Cole received the Excellence in Fashion Philanthropy award, while Gomez received the Excellence in Beauty Philanthropy award for Rare Beauty’s long-running commitment to mental health. Rare Beauty has pledged 1% of all sales to the Rare Impact Fund, which aims to mobilize $100 million globally for youth mental health. FIT said the fund has already raised more than $30 million in five years and supports 30 nonprofit organizations.

Cole’s influence still comes from the kind of brand activism that feels rare in a market obsessed with optics. FIT noted that he has used fashion as a platform since the 1980s to destigmatize HIV/AIDS and support LGBTQ rights, and later founded the Mental Health Coalition in 2020. His message at the summit landed clearly: social impact is not separate from the business, it is embedded in it.

That principle was echoed in the numbers. Macy’s says its enterprise-wide social commitment under Mission Every One includes directing $5 billion of spend through 2025 to people, partners, products and programs. The company also reported $29 million raised and donated in 2024 through social impact programs. Kate Spade New York said it fulfilled a $1 million commitment toward mental wellness in the past year and has invested more than $31 million in women’s mental health initiatives to date, with a goal of reaching 250,000 women and girls globally by 2030.

M·A·C offered the cleanest example of how cause can be built into the product itself. VIVA GLAM donates 100% of the selling price of its lipsticks to nonprofit partners, and in FY25 it delivered $4.5 million in grants to 64 organizations advancing sexual, racial, gender and environmental equality.

The panel “Designer Sense: Trailblazers in Fashion and Beauty Philanthropy,” with Macy’s senior director of social impact Sam di Scipio, Kate Spade senior director of social impact Taryn Bird, fashion editor Nicola Formichetti and industry veteran Fern Mallis, underscored the larger point. The rhetoric around social impact is growing more polished, but the most consequential shift is structural: brands are being judged not just on what they give, but on how deeply giving is wired into how they work.