Proenza Schouler’s Founding Designers Are Stepping Down

Proenza Schouler founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are stepping down as creative directors of the brand they founded in 2002.

Their exit is effective Jan. 31 and the two men are working in tandem with Proenza Schouler chief executive officer Shira Suveyke Snyder to find a new creative lead for the brand, prized for an aesthetic that WWD once described as “anti-minimal modernism.”

Disclosing the development exclusively to WWD, McCollough and Hernandez said they would remain company shareholders and serve on the Proenza Schouler board.

All parties assured the brand would “continue operations without interruption,” though it is not on the Official New York Fashion Week Schedule for the fall 2025 runway season, scheduled for Feb. 6 through Feb. 11.

“The time feels right to make the personal decision to step down from our day-to-day leadership role at the company and hand over the creative reins to someone new,” Hernandez said in a statement. “We have always valued risk-taking and a sense of adventure and feel ready to open ourselves up for whatever comes next.”

“While change is never easy, this decision — one we’ve carefully considered — feels like the right step at the right time, at this stage in our lives,” McCollough added.

The designers declined all comment on their future plans, despite fervent speculation they are poised to succeed Jonathan Anderson at the creative helm of Spanish luxury house Loewe, owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, clearing the way for Anderson to eventually take up a creative role at Dior.

LVMH and Loewe also declined all comment on Wednesday.

Stalwarts of the New York fashion scene with an undiminished aura of arty cool, the Proenza Schouler duo have long been on the radar of top European fashion houses.

Valentino Fashion Group took a stake in Proenza Schouler in 2007. Four years later, a group of backers led by John Howard and Andrew Rosen bought most of Valentino’s position.

Then in 2018, Mudrick Capital Management led the designers’ buyback of their company.

According to sources, LVMH has held discussions with McCollough and Hernandez over the years about joining one of its marquee fashion houses, which include Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Fendi.

Under-the-radar talks about them joining Loewe commenced last October, the same sources said.

On Wednesday, the designers were rueful about stepping down, but looked back on their long New York fashion adventure with fondness.

The boyish duo burst onto the fashion scene radar straight out of Parsons, selling their senior thesis collection to Barneys New York, and managing to hang onto the aura of an emerging brand even as they became part of the American fashion firmament. (They used their mothers’ maiden names for their brand instead of their own surnames.)

“We’ve had many chapters with Proenza Schouler, from our early days when having a brand felt like a fun, possibly temporary, stage in our lives, to later when things started to become more serious, and we realized that a real business was taking shape,” the duo told WWD, responding to emailed questions. “We didn’t have a specific goal in mind when we started the company, it was merely a way to continue making the clothes that we believed in.  Somewhere along the way, it became a real business with real responsibilities.”

Market sources estimate the company generates annual sales of $60 million.

In the emailed interview, they voiced confidence in the brand’s future.

“We have had the incredible honor of leading a team of extraordinary people, some of whom have been with us since day one. In them we have complete confidence — they know us inside and out, and we are confident that we have been able to impart some of the feelings and ideas that fuel us,” they said. “We look forward to seeing how the new creative lead will lean into the team’s incredible talents and evolve the existing codes through their personal lens. We have complete confidence in the future of the brand.”

Asked to highlight some key moments and achievements, they recalled that call and order from Barneys while they were still students.

“It felt like we had made it,” they told WWD. “We had to find a way to produce that collection and asked all our friends to come help us cut and sew the entire order in our little New York apartment. It felt like anything was possible in those early days.”

Proenza Schouler would go on to win five CFDA Awards, including Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2007, 2011, and 2013; launch an enduring “It” bag in the PS1 in 2008, and decamp to Paris for a couple of seasons. Over the years, the brand has collaborated with the likes of L’Oréal, Birkenstock, Sorel, and Mercedes-Benz.

The designers acknowledged that the PS1 bag — a newfangled messenger style melding function and cool — catapulted their stature and business to another level.

“That success gave us the freedom to be able to push, experiment, and hone our craft in a way that wasn’t possible before,” they told WWD. “Those years felt new and exciting and coincided with many personal milestones, including the opening of our first retail store, and winning our first CFDA Award. As the brand continued to flourish, we learned what it takes to run a real business. Proenza Schouler has somehow grown from an experimental student project into the company that it is today through sheer blood, sweat, and tears and that makes us endlessly proud.”

Hernandez noted that the brand’s 20th anniversary in 2022 prompted a “deep reflection.”

“We have always valued risk-taking and a sense of adventure and feel ready to open ourselves up for whatever comes next,” Hernandez said. “Bringing on Shira Suveyke Snyder as the company’s CEO was a critical step in this ultimate direction. In her we have complete faith and believe that through her leadership Proenza Schouler will continue to evolve, develop, and grow into its full potential.”

McCollough characterized Proenza Schouler as a “deeply autobiographical” project — and a team effort, too.

“We will miss working each and every day with the extraordinary teams that we have built at Proenza Schouler, who are like family to us,” he said. “We could never have experienced the highs we have had over the years without their hard work and dedication to our vision, nor could we have sustained the more difficult moments without their unwavering support and faith in what we do.”

No doubt he was alluding to multiple challenges the brand faced, including economic recessions, intensifying competition from Europe’s big luxury groups, liquidity challenges, and that revolving door of investors.

“Proenza Schouler has been a huge team effort, and it brings us great comfort to know that the brand’s future is in capable hands,” McCollough said in the statement.

In the interview, the designers mused on the impulses that fed their creativity at Proenza Schouler.

“With each collection, we can relive everything we were feeling in that moment — the things we were inspired by, the people we met, and the places we traveled to. Every memory, every person is represented somewhere in our archive,” they said. “The brand has grown up alongside us and so have the women we designed for.

“Proenza Schouler has always been a deeply personal project that we have been able to also use as a creative outlet, and we are excited to see how the brand evolves into the future. Life is short, and we never intended for Proenza Schouler to be the only professional chapter in our lives. Our biggest fear is to become complacent and so we feel the time is right to open ourselves up to new experiences and challenges, whatever those may be.” 

In a statement, Suveyke Snyder thanked the founding designers “for their extraordinary creativity and vision, which has shaped Proenza Schouler into what it is today. They have built an exceptional luxury brand with a defined aesthetic and dedicated atelier.”

The fashion house “remains steadfast in its commitment to innovation and excellence, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead,” she added.

Suveyke Snyder was appointed last October in a bid to accelerate Proenza Schouler’s growth through omnichannel expansion and category amplification.

“I joined the company with a clear expectation of leading this transition and have worked side by side with Jack and Lazaro to prepare for the next chapter of Proenza Schouler,” she told WWD, also responding to emailed questions, and vowing a “seamless transition.”

“We are focused on the opening of our new SoHo flagship and will present the fall-winter 2025 collection led by Jack and Lazaro in mid-February. As always, the collection will be previewed during New York and Paris market weeks.”

Asked about the timelines to name a new creative leader, she said a global search is under way and will “ramp up” now that word is out about the founders’ exit.

“We’ve met with some exceptional talent, and I’m confident we’ll identify a new design lead who honors the house codes so brilliantly set by Jack and Lazaro while simultaneously propelling the brand forward.”

She skirted a question about designer Patrik Ervell, who lists himself on LinkedIn as head of menswear at Proenza Schouler.

According to the company, the brand is sold in more 300 doors worldwide, including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Galeries Lafayette, and Printemps. It operates an online store and sells via e-tailers including Net-a-Porter, Mytheresa, Moda Operandi, and Farfetch.

Now attention will shift on when McCollough and Hernandez will be made official at Loewe, which dropped off the calendar for men’s fashion week in Paris later this month, with plans for a coed showing during Paris Fashion Week in March.

Jonathan Anderson was appointed creative director of Loewe in 2013, in tandem with LVMH taking a 46 percent stake in his London-based signature brand, J.W. Anderson.

His fashion star has been steadily rising in recent years as his widescreen approach to Loewe – rooted in craft and closely linked to the art and film worlds – has gained traction and propelled the house into the big leagues.

Founded in Madrid in 1846, Loewe was acquired by LVMH in 1996. Designers Stuart Vevers, José Enrique Oña Selfa and Narciso Rodriguez have also designed Loewe.