Abrima Erwiah: Fostering Innovation in Fashion Business
Abrima Erwiah has worked for some of the most respected brands in the world, including Bottega Veneta, Hermès, and John Lobb. She has been an advisor to the United Nations International Trade Center, served as a mentor under the Kering Foundation for Women’s Dignity & Rights, and taught in the School of Fashion at Parsons.
She is also the co-founder of Studio 189, alongside actress Rosario Dawson, which is an artisan produced fashion lifestyle brand and social enterprise that is a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund recipient, and the CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability award winner.
Erwiah brings all of this experience and more to her role as the director of the Joseph and Gail Gromek Institute for Fashion Business at Parsons, which is enhancing the interdisciplinary study of the business of fashion and design at the leading school of art and design. Drawing on the strengths of existing degree programs within Parsons, the institute is advancing the breadth and depth of opportunities to educate, train, convene, and support a broad fashion business community at the university.
“I’m thrilled to take on this work at Parsons, where my goal is to create a center of learning excellence that goes beyond any border or traditional way of thinking, and disrupts the fashion industry in every possible way,” said Erwiah. “We want to lead the charge in the evolution of the fashion industry and to help prepare the next generation of leaders in fashion business. We want to stimulate the business of fashion design by operating as an innovation hub that cross pollinates across the industry and creates hybrid programs across disciplines so we can work with the best of the best in tech, sustainability, business, design, law, media, manufacturing, retail, and more.”
As director, Erwiah oversaw the institute’s launch and has been providing leadership and strategic direction, creating original programming, conducting research and developing related initiatives tied to the institute’s mission and goals within Parsons and the wider New School community.
The Institute was created thanks to an $8.5 million gift from Joseph and Gail Gromek in 2019, the largest gift in Parsons’ 125 year history. Joseph R. Gromek has championed innovation and excellence throughout The New School. He is a former Chair of the Board of Trustees at The New School and current board member of Parsons School of Design, and is an active philanthropist with a history of supporting health and higher education.
“I’m so proud to see that the Joseph and Gail Gromek Institute for Fashion Business has launched with such a passionate and dedicated leader at the helm,” said Joe Gromek. “The Institute is serving as the crossroads for a wide variety of interdisciplinary studies. It acts as a bridge between academia and industry and helps support the development and inclusion of a more diverse group of future industry leaders. I can’t wait to see the important and innovative work that Abrima Erwiah and her colleagues will produce in the years to come.”
The institute builds on a curricular suite of management offerings including the industry-leading Master of Professional Studies in Fashion Management as well as programs within the School of Design Strategies at Parsons. Under Erwaish, the institute is supporting the development of new and existing co-curricular programs and initiatives. The academic structure initially included an endowed directorship, an additional faculty appointment, as well as faculty and student research, collaborative external projects, social engagement, and public programming. Among Erwiah’s recent accomplishments are the establishment of the Proenza Schouler x Gromek Institute for Fashion Business Mentorship Program, which supports a cohort of 16 students each year. She has also organized public events including the 2022 panel “Fashion's Diversity: Where it Stands, Where it Stalls, Where it's Going"—which included Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing—and others that have connected students with designers from Ralph Lauren.
Erwiah also oversees the Gromek Innovation Fund, which provides resources for significant curricular work and to continue to improve Parsons’ existing program offerings and initiatives related to business and management. The Gromek Innovation fund will also support research exploring areas of our rapidly changing economy, including topics related to systems and organizations, supply chain and design, sustainability, consumption, new technologies, labor, social justice, and finding opportunities for businesses and communities to thrive within today’s world.