Women Are the Engine of American Fashion

When you look at the independent labels with staying power here in the US, ones with stable, healthy businesses, many of them are run by women. Nili Lotan has been around for almost 20 years, and generates more than $100 million a year in sales — without any outside capital. Rachel Comey, Maria Cornejo, Ulla Johnson: they’ve all been building their labels for two decades, too. ALC, the line designed by Los Angeles-based Andrea Lieberman,…