ABOUT SIMON COLLINS

Simon Collins is a design thinker, speaker, writer, educator, designer and advisor. Following a career as a fashion designer then creative director for some of the world’s leading brands including Nike, Polo and Zegna, he spent seven years as Dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons where he helped turn the quietly respected design school into a global mega-brand that partnered with luxury groups like Kering and LVMH. High points of his tenure included moving the entire School of Fashion downtown to a newly constructed building, launching the MFA in Fashion Design and Society, and opening the new Parsons Paris.

While at Parsons Collins was named one of the inaugural Global 500 in the Business of Fashion and as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company Magazine. His Chinese CCTV6 show "Creative Sky," enjoyed a regular audience of 5 million through its five seasons.

In 2014, he published his book “The School of Fashion”, which detailed the history of 30 notable Parsons alumni, from Donna Karan to Alexander Wang. He also established his live onstage Conversation Series with guests including Victoria Beckham, Francois-Henri Pinault and Giancarlo Giammetti.

In 2015, he stepped down from the role of dean and joined the Parsons Board of Governors. In addition to chairing the Advisory Board for Global trend group WGSN, he established his consultancy, The House of Collins, to advise brands, institutions, fashion weeks and governments around the world. He also joined the Advisory Board of the NYU Stern Luxury MBA.

Collins has written for publications like the Wall Street Journal, Business of Fashion, and At Large magazine, and he frequently comments on design in the media, including the New York Times, NBC, CNN and NPR. Collins speaks at many leading global conferences including the Cannes Lions (France), the United Nations (NYC) and the Global Fashion Summit(Copenhagen).

In 2016 Collins launched the Fashion Culture Design Unconference in New York, the first major global platform for actual creative discussion, ideas and problem-solving. FCD has become a global ecosystem of unconferences, salons, podcasts and parties.

In 2017 Collins created WeDesign.org, a global design education platform with a mission to give a world class design education to anyone anywhere in the world. In 2020 he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and he led the creation of the Design Innovation institute Shanghai.

He is now based in Shanghai leading his creative consulting company The House of Collins Shanghai. He advises brands and companies, governments and institutions. He gives major speeches at global conferences and he creates beautiful solutions.

Simon Collins is passionate about great design and he travels the world offering advice and giving keynote speeches about his adventures.

Twitter, Insta, WeChat: @SimonCollins08

Weibo: SimonCollins

FASHION CULTURE DESIGN

Fashion Culture and Design affect each other and everything we make, see, and feel. To better understand this and help us all to Do Things Better we created the Fashion Culture Design Unconference. Brilliant minds addressing difficult problems without corporate agendas or products to sell. Actual conversations moderated by smart individuals who know how to get people talking.

FCD addresses the questions that we’re struggling with but aren’t in the public arena, questions like what does beauty look like now? Or when will someone invent wearable tech that we actually need? Multiple panels of experts challenge conventional thinking and inspire the audience and each other with ideas they can do something with. There are no simple answers so FCD is the start of the conversation.

FORMER PROJECTS, COLLABS AND ROLES

Collins advises companies, brands and governments on all aspects of their business and branding. From his unique international vantage point combining business, creative and academic and through working in Europe, the US and Asia his background at the top of global brands like Nike and Parsons School of Design gives him a perspective that informs his own work and translates directly to his clients. Through his career, Collins has worked with brands such as Ford, Coach, Kering, Fila, Marks + Spencers, Ralph Lauren, Milk Studios, MADE Fashion Week, Allen Edmonds, New York Times, Cesare Paciotti, LVMH, Amazon Fashion, Concept Korea, and more. 

GLOBAL SPEAKER

Collins has given keynote speeches on a diverse range of subjects ranging from Design Thinking, Creative Leadership, Sustainability, Why I love Bad Design' and most recently 'How To Design The Future: A Manifesto'. Always a lively performer he has given major speeches in Dubai, Madrid, Bilbao, Paris, Tokyo, London, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, the United Nations and the Cannes Lions festival. His series of intimate conversations on stage with leading creative thinkers has included Francois-Henri Pinault, Victoria Beckham, Ermenegildo Zegna, Giancarlo Giammetti, Proenza Schouler and many more. He hosts major events worldwide including the annual Copenhagen Global Summit, the Sustainability report for H&M in Europe and Collins' own Fashion Culture Design Unconferences in New York, Seoul and Shanghai.