Steven Kolb

Introduction

Steven Kolb, the chief executive officer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) — the trade group behind New York Fashion Week — was placed on leave on September 14, 2026, after video showed him physically restraining two PETA protesters who stormed the runway at the COS Spring 2027 show a day earlier. Kolb, who has led the organization since 2006, first announced a voluntary leave of absence, saying the episode was “completely out of character” for him; hours later, the CFDA board announced he would be on leave “pending a full review.”

Background Information

Kolb has served as the CFDA’s CEO and president for roughly twenty years, since 2006, and has held the post under three chairmen: Diane von Furstenberg (2006–2019), Tom Ford, and Thom Browne, the group’s chairman as of January 2023. The CFDA was founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert and comprises a membership of more than 370 American fashion and accessory designers; in Kolb’s own organization’s words, it represents more than 300 of America’s “foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessories designers.” Under his leadership the organization had just marked an animal-welfare milestone of its own: per PETA’s letter to Kolb after the incident, a CFDA ban on fur took effect this season across the official New York Fashion Week schedule.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The physical contact described in this section was captured on video and acknowledged by Kolb, who apologized for it, but it has never been criminally charged — PETA said it planned to file a police report and pursue charges — and never adjudicated in court. Characterizations of the contact as violent come from PETA; Kolb says he reacted inappropriately, that it was not his place to intervene, and that security should have handled the situation.

The incident unfolded on Sunday, September 13, 2026, at the COS Spring 2027 runway show, held at the WSA event space at 175 Water Street in Manhattan, when PETA protesters stormed the runway chanting against wool — COS’s parent company is H&M Group, which PETA has targeted over wool-industry practices. Video released by PETA shows Kolb pulling a sign from one protester, then grabbing her and pulling her to the floor and putting his hand over her mouth; PETA’s account says he “violently grabbed one protester, held her to the floor, wrapped a leg around her, and covered her mouth and nose with his hands as she shouted, ‘Sheep bloodied and beaten for wool.’”

According to the New York Post’s account of the clip, Kolb first put his hands around PETA campaigner Mason Melito and covered his mouth to stop him chanting before the advocate was hauled out by security, then grabbed a second protester — who yelled about the need to “Protect sheep!” — to the ground, covering her mouth and restraining her by the wrists. A third protester had joined the action over COS’s implication in a recent PETA Asia investigation, according to PETA.

Kolb apologized the same day in a statement shared to his Instagram story — his Instagram page has since been made private — writing, “I reacted inappropriately to an incident at a show earlier today. It wasn’t my place to do so. I should have let the security team handle the situation.” On Monday, in a statement to NBC News, he went further: “What happened was completely out of character for me, both personally and as a leader,” adding that as he reviewed the videos he did not recognize himself, and announcing a voluntary leave from work and sessions with a professional “to ensure it never happens again.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequences landed fast. On Monday afternoon the CFDA board issued a statement: “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 organization 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, including respectful engagement with differing viewpoints.” PETA, for its part, said its activists would file a police report and planned to pursue criminal charges against Kolb, and founder Ingrid Newkirk declared, “Today’s actions show how top people in fashion use violence to silence people who expose how sheep are beaten, bloodied, and violently killed for scarves and sweaters.” The organization added that there is “no justification for physically restraining another person” and said Kolb “reacted aggressively to peaceful protesters, thereby endorsing PETA’s complaint that the fashion industry is unthinkingly violent.”

Alongside the condemnation came an olive branch: PETA president Tracy Reiman wrote to Kolb on Monday inviting him to meet, “to discuss wool and animal use generally in fashion,” pointing to the group’s seventeen exposés covering more than 150 wool-industry operations in seven countries — including, PETA said, an operation with ties to H&M Group — and Kolb’s apology as a opening; PETA said it would explore a meeting and ask him to watch its footage. H&M Group, meanwhile, told ABC News it is “committed to continuously improving animal welfare across our value chain,” saying “no animals should be harmed in the making of our” products. Within the industry, WWD reported, “much of the industry recapped the incident and questioned what might happen next to Kolb,” with many speculating he will be forced to eventually step down.

Current Status

As of September 14, 2026, Kolb is on leave from the CFDA — both his own voluntary leave and the board’s leave “pending a full review” — and says he is “meeting with a professional to ensure it never happens again.” No criminal charges had been filed against him; PETA’s police report and threatened charges remained plans, not filings. The review’s scope and timeline have not been announced, and PETA has left its meeting invitation open, saying the Cos show “should not be the last word between PETA and the CFDA.”

Impact on Their Career/Life

A twenty-year run as American fashion’s gatekeeper — through three chairmen, the CFDA Awards, and this season’s fur ban — now hangs on a board review triggered by less than a minute of runway video. The man whose own board exists, in its words, to model “respectful engagement with differing viewpoints” was caught on tape doing the opposite, and an industry that reports his every front-row move spent Fashion Week speculating about his successors rather than his shows.