Jane Wade Reinvents Workwear at New York Fashion Week

In the span of just a few short years, Jane Wade has made a lot of noise on the runway. Praised by fashion media for transforming office fashion, the designer is known for exploring – and challenging – the idea of what people wear to work.

Originally from Portland, Wade grew up observing the differences between what her mother, a hairdresser, and her father, a contractor, wore on the job. “My mom was very buttoned up, a very Commes des Garçons, Thom Browne type of dresser, and my dad’s wearing Dickies, Carhartt, Converse, and a tool belt,” Wade says. “Across every collection, I’m studying wardrobe and how wardrobe functions to a job, whether it’s a white-collar job where you need to wear a three-piece suit or you’re a blue-collar worker where the uniform needs to service what you’re doing at work.”

For her most recent Fall/Winter 2026 collection, called The Summit, Wade flips the script by focusing on designs that can serve us when we’re off the clock. “In the corporate machine era, we live and breathe this experience where you’re constantly online, but we find moments where you can shut off and be yourself,” she says. “I like making space to be with nature. Grounding oneself is very much how I was raised in terms of self-care and how one exists in the universe outside of their job. And I just find that really fascinating.”

Jane Wade preparing the model for New York Fashion Week

© Hui Murray

Jaedyn Shaw at Jane Wade show for New York Fashion Week

© Faith Nguyen

Here, Wade discusses the importance of workwear functionality, corporate (and coastal) dress codes, and how the inclusion of Red Bull Zero on the runway naturally complemented the outdoor narrative of this season’s collection.

In the Jane Wade storytelling universe, every collection has explored the idea of what’s appropriate to wear to work. Tell us the story of The Summit and what inspired you this season.

Jane Wade: This season was really about escaping into one’s desires to reconnect with nature. That was the storyline of The Summit. As the collection rolls out, you see these very teched out, office looks, and then the looks get deeper and deeper into gorpcore—these outdoorsy, tactile fabrics. There are these nuggets of how we can unravel our everyday job and reconnect with nature, reconnect with what matters, and reconnect with being outside.

You’re originally from the Pacific Northwest, and gorpcore plays a huge role in your designs this season, where garments are made of materials like nylon and paracord. Growing up, how did you incorporate high-performance gear and technical fabrics into your lifestyle?

In the Pacific Northwest, performance wear is a huge part of the active lifestyle. I grew up skiing on Mount Hood, and snow wear is deep coded with performance functionality, things like having zippers in your armpits so when you get sweaty or your undergarments get wet, you can let them dry out. And I think it’s so fascinating how clothes directly communicate with the need, with the source of how they’re being used and how those functionality details perform for the user. Up until this point, every collection is really toeing that line between blue collar, white collar, and all the corporate hierarchies and the storytelling that comes along with that. This season, with The Summit, it’s pivoting it back to my roots in performance wear, how garments serve us, and bringing that to more of an outdoor setting.

Modular design, functionality, and technology have always been at the forefront of your collections. Can you share how these design elements support someone when they’re at work – or at play – and give us one of your favorite examples?

I would say a good example of that is our opening look, which had pants with this lace-up tie on the side to really adjust the size, and a variety of different pockets that can zip into or detach down the side seam like a pair of snow pants. You can zip the pants up so they’re like a straight leg or unzip them to expose the internal gusset to expand them into more of a flare. I like thinking of ways our clothing can respond to us differently based on our everyday needs. When I worked in corporate fashion, it was not glamorous. I was at the factory every day underneath the tables, digging out bolts of fabric. I like the idea of having a pair of pants that are polished and cool so I can show up client facing in a fitting or a meeting but also have something strong for when I’m the factory floor- something long enough to assist me with that side of my job, too. It’s all very fascinating to me, finding ways to respond to clothing that’s like fully coded.

Beverages and their role in the workplace have been woven into the narrative of several of your collections, including The Summit, where multiple garments included what I would call beverage holsters. Can you tell me more about the inspiration and the decision to incorporate Red Bull Zero into this collection?

Working in corporate structure, coffee is always free at big companies, and it’s this structural thing that they set up, right? For an energy drink, I think Red Bull has such a different narrative because it’s self-serving. When it comes to being outdoors, you’re having an energy drink because you’re going up to the mountain today. It’s 7:00 in the morning. I want to be locked and loaded when I hit the slopes. How one uses energy drinks is almost always in a placement that’s for the self, and I think that’s a really good story to tell.

And those little belts, which we call cozies internally, are Red Bull specific cozies. And even those are modular. We made the belt and then the cozy itself had this snap on, snap off detachable [component]. So, you could use it like a regular cozy, or you can attach it to your belt and place the can in the chamber.

We also have this really fun macrame one, which we built out of paracord. I like looking at different types of materials and the ways that we can create these carriers. Maybe you’ve seen those cute water bottle slings that hikers make? That was sort of the inspiration, like how can I easily bring this with me but have it be a handmade thing that I created for my water bottle or my beverage? So we’re tapping into two different styles of hydration carriers.

Model wearing Jane Wade for New York Fashion Week

© Aana Mirdita

You began your career in New York working for major fashion houses, where you’ve said you were a “frequent offender” of “inappropriate office dressing.” How would you describe your experience navigating the differences between a West Coast/East Coast dress code?

With West Coast dressing, I think it can be very simplified and performance based. Whereas in New York, it’s the complete opposite and very identity based, but [at work] they also expect you to conform into their format of how you’re supposed to be dressing.

I think that’s why it was such a big challenge for me working in corporate structures, because it’s about removing the unique identity and conforming to what the larger company is and dressing in their language to fit in. And I really struggled with that, honestly. I mean, here we are. I’m talking to you from my own brand. The birth of this has been launched off the back of that idea.

I also have this thing about showing skin and feeling powerful and not feeling like I need to cover every inch of myself, but then also needing to be respected and regarded as a smart, intelligent young woman that can run a successful business. How all that sits together gets very complicated and complex. As a woman, what does it mean to show skin if I’m working in a law firm? Do I have to cover every single inch, from my shoulders to my ankles to be respected, to think that my opinions are valuable?

What advice would you give to a young person entering the workforce, especially if there is a clear dress code?

I love this question because the advice for the person entering the corporate world is my product. I’ll give you a perfect example. There’s a look from our last fall runway show that’s just a button-down shirt, but it’s all the way to the floor and the plackets can open up and it has some modesty modularity. So, it could be a dress, or you could just style it as a button-down shirt that’s totally open with jeans. The response to your question really lies within the product and how we’re developing it. An everyday person could buy a wool skirt off our website, and it has full coverage, but because of the way that it’s shaped and the way it’s designed, it could be viewed as sexy because it’s form-fitting to a woman.

You’re known for casting some of your employees as models, and this season you also cast your mom. How would you describe the workplace environment that you’ve created?

This is a practice of the heart. The business itself is a living, breathing practice of friendship, of community, and somewhere in the universe, I have to believe that’s what’s lifting it up to be as successful as it is. For me, it’s very much a family. Here in the studio, anybody that wants to come and learn is welcome. And if you want to stay on and continue your internship and grow into a position as the business grows, then that really feels like the success of the story. If I can create a plate that’s bountiful, where there’s enough for everyone to eat off that plate, then that is success. It doesn’t mean that I need to be a multi-billion-dollar brand, but if I can create a solid foundation and a solid community that can serve people other than myself, then that feels like a win.

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In the Jane Wade storytelling universe, every collection has explored the idea of what’s appropriate to wear to work. Tell us the story of The Summit and what inspired you this season.

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