We need new roadmaps in fashion. Leaving design school with an uber-creative graduate collection, some Instagram clout, and an i-D feature is of little use if there isn’t good business nous underpinning it. With this in mind, we’ve partnered with AZ Academy, a Milan-based fashion course born out of the late Alber Elbaz’s AZ Factory – his brand turned fashion incubator – and overseen by Richemont, Creative Academy and Accademia Costume & Moda (ACM), to democratise access to its valuable lessons on how creative people can build commercially-successful brands. Read the ninth edition here.In fashion, an industry that often glorifies singular vision and the myth of the lone creative genius, mentorship is rarely spotlighted as a foundational tool. The prevailing narrative celebrates breakthrough talent as self-made and fiercely independent, leaving little room for the idea that growth might come through dialogue, feedback, and shared insight.
But AZ Academy is actively working to reshape that narrative. Their mentorship programme is less about top-down advice and more about strategic collaboration, offering designers the space to question, structure, and reimagine their brands with the input of experienced industry professionals.
But what exactly happens in those sessions? What makes them more than just polite industry chats or generic career advice? How do you find the right mentor and begin to cultivate the kinds of relationships that lead to meaningful mentorship? And perhaps most crucially: what becomes possible for a designer when they’re given the space to grow in dialogue with someone who’s walked the path before?
Learning to speak the industry’s language
When starting a brand, one of the most disorienting realisations is just how much you don’t know. There’s no handbook handed to you the moment you graduate or register your company. The gaps in knowledge only begin to reveal themselves once you’re already in motion, when you’ve valiantly embarked on building something of your own and find yourself confronted by an entire ecosystem of tools, systems, and expectations that no one ever taught you. What is a merchandising plan? Why is your buyer suddenly asking for a line sheet? There’s only so much you can glean from Google, Reddit, or whispered advice on the sidelines of fashion week. At some point, you need to speak with people who’ve done this before – who understand the language because they’ve had to learn it the hard way, too.
For Brais Albor Rodriguez, that moment of reckoning came shortly after graduating from Central Saint Martins. He left with the creative fire the school is known for, but quickly realised something crucial was missing. “I never really thought about the idea of needing to sell,” he says. “Through the mentorship, I discovered how essential that aspect is.”
Like many emerging designers, Rodriguez experienced the leap from creative work to business structuring as a kind of cultural shift. The business side – merchandising, pricing, forecasting – felt alien at first, even antithetical. But through mentorship, those same concepts began to make sense. “This mentorship has provided a lot of information – merchandising, for example, which I used to hate,” he says. “I once worked at an Italian brand where merchandisers would hand down these boring business plans telling you what to design. It was frustrating. But now I realise it makes sense. If you’re selling more of a certain type of product, it’s worth focusing your strategy there.”
Meanwhile, another recent session, for instance, focused on refining pricing and positioning. “The mentor asked me to show her my product range, quality levels, and how I want to position the brand,” he says. “We worked together to create a pricing strategy ensuring I’m neither too expensive nor too cheap in the market.”
The value of mentorship extends far beyond pricing spreadsheets, though. These sessions often evolve into meaningful points of connection – gateways into the kinds of networks that aren’t listed online. “Even today, during my session with Laura Santanera (who specialises in pricing), I mentioned I might be doing underwear, and she immediately said, ‘You have to contact this woman who used to do underwear for Diesel.’ She knows the right people and is connecting me with them,” he says. That kind of access – not just to information, but to people – is transformative.
But it’s not just about who you know; it’s also about learning how to communicate with them. “They’re teaching us how to speak their language,” says Rodriguez, who notes that whether you’re approaching investors, manufacturers, or buyers, being able to translate your creative vision into terms they understand is essential. “Investors don’t care if you’re using pink or gold; they want to see your business plan,” he says. “It’s the same with manufacturers. They’re not interested in colour palettes; they want to know if you can produce at scale, for 10 to 15 years. Mentorship is helping us prepare to speak to different stakeholders in ways they’ll understand.”
How mentorship shapes strategy
While some mentorship sessions focus on filling immediate knowledge gaps, others operate on a wider, more strategic timescale. For designer Sandra Liz Nacua Jao, mentorship was instrumental to building the foundations for her brand.
Sandra’s brand exists at the intersection of multiple geographies and disciplines – a dynamic that presents both opportunity and complexity. With her background split between Tokyo and Milan, she sought guidance on how to translate that hybrid identity into a coherent business model. “One logistical challenge was figuring out how to bridge Japanese innovation with Italian craftsmanship,” she says. “While I want to manufacture in Italy, it’s essential to my brand DNA to maintain a strong connection to Japan, especially through textiles and technical development. The mentors were generous in helping me think through how to structure this kind of cross-cultural, cross-border supply chain in a way that’s realistic and sustainable.”
For many designers, that ongoing tension between creative ambition and commercial viability defines the early stages of building a brand. Nacua Jao is no exception, but mentorship helped her approach the balancing act with new clarity. “Another challenge was building a merchandising plan that preserved the experimental nature of my work while introducing pieces with different price points and wearability,” she says. “The mentors helped me assess what’s feasible from a production and cost perspective, and how to balance creative complexity with commercial viability. The ongoing challenge is designing pieces that remain true to my brand codes while being possible to manufacture and sell at scale.”
What’s striking is how mentorship transformed this complexity into tangible progress. “When I started the programme in January, I had just finished my MA in Tokyo and arrived in Milan with no clear idea of what lay ahead,” Nacua Jao says. “Since then, with the guidance of the mentors, I’ve developed a much stronger foundation – not just creatively, but strategically. I now have a clear brand vision and values, I’ve filed the trademarks of my brand, and I’m working with a design studio that generously offered to develop my brand identity as an investment in me. I’ve been refining my business and collection plans, visiting factories across Italy, and actively developing my first collection, incorporating feedback from mentors on benchmarking, merchandising, and product structure.”
The art of successful mentorship
By now, the benefits of mentorship may sound self-evident, but how do you actually find the right mentor? How do you build those relationships? And once you’ve secured that time, how do you make sure the sessions are truly transformative?
As Rodriguez points out, the first step is honesty. “Many of us are shy – especially when we’re weak in certain areas,” he says. “So I think the key is to be honest. If you’re not ready, say you’re not ready. Don’t try to pretend or say things that aren’t true.” In his case, that vulnerability became a turning point. Admitting he had never used Excel during an accounting mentoring session didn’t close the door – it opened it. “She guided me so well. We built an Excel together. She showed me how my brand could work – or not. She helped me see when certain salary allocations didn’t make sense and how to adjust the structure.”
It’s that sense of openness – paired with a willingness to meet each designer where they are – that defines the best mentorship. No two sessions are alike, and according to AZ Academy mentor Attila Kiss, they shouldn’t be. A seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience – including roles as COO of Balenciaga, Managing Director at Ermanno Scervino, and currently CEO of Gruppo Florence – Kiss emphasises the importance of empathy. “First of all, I try to empathise with the position, situation, and culture of the person waiting for my advice,” he says. “Giving good advice is probably 60% listening, and only 40% talking. Only in this way will any advice be personalised, inspiring and effective.”
Many of the mentees Kiss has worked with over the years now hold leadership roles in the fashion industry. But it’s not the titles that matter most – it’s the fact that they are still drawing on frameworks, feedback, and ways of thinking they first encountered during their conversations. “Yesterday, I met a former young colleague I mentored 15 years ago. She told me that she is still guided by an evaluation feedback framework I used with her when she was a recent graduate,” he says. “Some of these relationships last much longer than the official programme.”
That kind of lasting impact often begins with a small gesture – a conversation over coffee, a piece of unsolicited support. “In the case that a young person is in a company where this is not organised, my first advice is: find someone in senior management who you feel is sensitive to this, and try to find a way to ask. So, ask: ‘May I meet you sometimes?’ And say that you would like to use their experience, like a tutor.”
Senior figures often receive a flood of requests from junior team members – some thoughtful, many generic. In environments where formal mentorship programs aren’t in place, it’s up to the individual to identify potential mentors and cultivate those relationships strategically. As Kiss points out, the first few months in a new role are crucial for observation. Take the time to watch how things operate, note who seems receptive, generous with their time, and aligned with your values or ambitions.
Then, rather than making a vague ask for mentorship — which can feel like another time-consuming obligation — offer something specific and useful. Show you’ve paid attention. If you notice a senior team member juggling a big project or short on support, propose how you might contribute: “May I help you with that project you’re working on? I have time to do something extra, and I’d love to support it.”
But what if you’re unsure of how much to ask – or worried you might overstep? “I think many times it’s based on personal relationships,” Kiss says. “How much to ask, or whether it’s too much – there isn’t a clear rule. It really depends on the relationship you’re able to create, from both sides. You have to feel it. And maybe sometimes, just directly ask the senior person: ‘Sorry – let me know if this is too much.’ Maybe they’ll say, ‘No, call me even more,’ or they’ll say, ‘Yes, it’s too much.’ The senior person should be clear. For example, they might say, ‘Let’s do it like this – we’ll meet once a week,’ or whatever solution works.”
Mentorship is, at its core, a mutual investment. Mentees bring their ideas, insecurities, and willingness to learn. Mentors bring perspective, rigour, and belief in the long game. And when that exchange is built on honesty, curiosity, and care, it becomes something much deeper than feedback – it becomes a catalyst for real, lasting growth.
