FMD - The Fashion Model Directory
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is a 1998-founded digital fashion database and news platform serving fashion-industry professionals, brands, and media with credited model, agency, designer, and editorial profiles.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What FMD - The Fashion Model Directory does
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is a digital fashion information platform founded in 1998 that operates a curated database of professional models, modeling agencies, magazines, designers, photographers, brands, fashion shows, advertisements, catalogues, and lookbooks. The platform hosts over 1M+ credited fashion photographs across 2.5M+ content pages and combines a vertical directory with an editorial news operation branded as 'the pure fashion news agency.' Core technical components include a proprietary directory system with the Credifair on-the-fly crediting workflow for photographers, RSS and Atom syndication feeds, custom APIs offered free to selected media partners, and a science-based rating system developed with university research partners. Distribution extends through content syndication partnerships with Google, Wikipedia, the NY Times, Daily Mail, and IMDB, yielding a reported 500M+ monthly network readership on top of approximately 2M direct monthly visitors.
The business model is advertising-led with secondary content licensing. FMD sells advertising to major fashion and lifestyle brands such as H&M, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Chanel, Armani, Prada, L'Oreal, and Longchamp, and grants limited, revocable content licenses requiring attribution and back-links. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and core services to models, agencies, and photographers are free. Since 2017 the entity has been organized as a non-profit data project administered by a decentralized team of volunteers and supported by private sponsors, operating under the legal name 'The Fashion Model Directory' with governance referenced to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and serves users globally via fashionmodeldirectory.com and its social channels.
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- FMD - The Fashion Model Directory
- Legal name
- The Fashion Model Directory
- Website
- https://fashionmodeldirectory.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is a 1998-founded digital fashion database and news platform serving fashion-industry professionals, brands, and media with credited model, agency, designer, and editorial profiles.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Fashion Database and Directory
- NAICS
- Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314), Directory and Mailing List Publishers (513140), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Consumer Lifestyle & Fashion Magazines (MPAJAEAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Reference Data Management (RDM) (HDAEADAE), Marketing Database & Contact Data Providers (B2B/B2C Lists) (BPAFAKAF)
Keywords
Where FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Advertising: FMD generates primary revenue through advertising sales. Their top advertisers include major fashion and lifestyle brands such as H&M, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Longchamp, Armani, Chanel, L'Oreal, Prada, and many more global brands. The platform offers global fashion audience reach for brand promotion.
- Content Licensing: FMD grants limited permission (fair license) to use content under specific conditions including attribution requirements. This applies to all content including interviews but excludes fashion news. They reserve the right to withdraw permission at any time and do not permit redistribution or sub-licensing to third parties.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory product offering
Product offeringCore offering
FMD operates the world's largest credited fashion database containing over 1M+ fashion photographs and tens of thousands of professional profiles across models, agencies, magazines, brands, designers, photographers, shows, advertisements, catalogues, and lookbooks. The platform also functions as a fashion news agency, provides the Credifair on-the-fly photography crediting system, and offers content licensing and advertising solutions to global fashion brands.
Product overview
FMD (The Fashion Model Directory) operates as a single unified digital platform combining a comprehensive fashion database with news and content services. The core product is the FMD Database—the world's largest fashion database with over 1M+ credited fashion photographs covering models, agencies, magazines, designers, photographers, brands, fashion shows, advertisements, catalogues, and lookbooks. This database is complemented by the FMD News Agency for fashion industry news coverage and Credifair for photographer crediting. Additional services include advertising solutions, content licensing, custom API solutions for partners, and RSS/Atom syndication feeds. Since 2017, FMD has been a non-profit data project supported by volunteers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Credifair: An on-the-fly crediting system developed by FMD to credit photographers and fashion professionals for their work on the platform.
Products and services
- FMD Database The world's largest credited fashion database containing over 1M+ credited fashion photographs and tens of thousands of professional fashion profiles covering models, agencies, magazines, designers, photographers, brands, fashion shows, advertisements, catalogues, and lookbooks. Free to access for industry professionals and consumers.
- FMD News Agency An innovative fashion news agency providing breaking fashion news, model news, business news, and beauty news. Operates as 'the pure fashion news agency' covering the fashion industry with original editorial content including Model of the Week features and fashion timeline updates.
- Credifair An on-the-fly crediting system that allows photographers and other fashion professionals to request credits for their work on FMD. Aims to create a fully credited and professional repository of fashion photographic content.
- FMD Advertising Advertising solutions giving global fashion and lifestyle brands access to an engaged fashion audience across 2.5M+ content pages. Top advertisers include H&M, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Longchamp, Armani, Chanel, L'Oreal, and Prada. Media kits and ad specs available through the Advertising Sales Team.
- Content Licensing Limited permission (fair license) to use FMD content under specific conditions including attribution requirements and linking back to source. Applies to all content including interviews but excludes fashion news.
- Custom API Solutions Custom API solutions offered free of charge to selected partners including newspapers, magazines, media networks, and fashion sites, enabling automatic content enrichment with FMD fashion data and headlines.
- RSS/Atom Content Feeds Syndication feeds in XML or JSON format offering story headlines for use with feed aggregators, available as RSS, Atom, and API delivery.
Quantifiable outcome
- 500M+ network readers per month
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use FMD - The Fashion Model Directory
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and notable.
- GooglemajorFMD provides news, data and content to Google as one of the world's biggest companies and online properties. FMD's content is indexed and distributed through Google platforms.
- WikipediamajorFMD serves as a content provider to Wikipedia, one of the world's largest online encyclopedias, for fashion-related information and references.
- NY TimesmajorFMD provides news, data and content to the New York Times, one of the world's leading newspapers.
- Stanford UniversitycoreStanford University has had access to FMD's database for academic research purposes as part of FMD's supporting data science initiative.
- Various UniversitiescoreHundreds of universities have cooperated with FMD over the years for fashion research. FMD supports academic research with science-based data and exclusive rating-project agreements.
- Scotland YardnotableFMD partners with Scotland Yard and various police departments worldwide in fighting against scam and fraud in the fashion industry.
- BBB (Better Business Bureau)notableFMD partners with the Better Business Bureau in anti-scam and fraud prevention efforts within the fashion industry.
- Various Police Departments WorldwidenotableFMD cooperates with multiple police departments around the world to combat fraud and scams targeting models and fashion professionals.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Highsnobiety: Highsnobiety is a digital fashion, streetwear, and culture media platform covering brands, designers, and trends relevant to FMD's fashion industry editorial focus.
- Who What Wear: Who What Wear is a large fashion media brand covering trends, designers, and style influencers; it shares FMD's fashion audience and lifestyle brand advertiser base (H&M, etc.).
- Vogue: Vogue is the dominant consumer and B2B fashion magazine publisher globally; its editorial and covers coverage overlaps with FMD's magazines and editorial database and it targets the same fashion-conscious advertising audience.
- Business of Fashion: Business of Fashion is a leading fashion industry news and intelligence platform serving a similar fashion industry professional audience with news, analysis, and data, but operating at a much larger commercial scale and editorial breadth.
- Fashionista: Fashionista is a digital fashion industry news site covering designers, models, and brand business targeting a fashion-professional and enthusiast readership similar to FMD's audience.
- WWD (Women's Wear Daily): WWD is a long-established fashion industry news publication covering designers, brands, models, and fashion business news — overlapping FMD's editorial news coverage and fashion industry target audience.
Direct peers
- Models.com: Models.com is the most directly comparable competitor: a fashion model directory and industry database covering models, agencies, photographers, and fashion editorial content with a global audience of fashion professionals and enthusiasts.
Emerging players
- The Impression: The Impression is a fashion editorial and modeling news platform aggregating runway shows, lookbooks, advertisements, and model features — overlapping with FMD's editorial, ads, and lookbook database sections.
- Model Management: Model Management is a modeling agency portal and model discovery platform with a model database and agency directory; it competes with FMD's models and agencies directory sections.
Others
- Getty Images / Fashion content libraries: Getty Images and similar fashion image libraries are adjacent rather than direct competitors: they license fashion photography commercially, overlapping with FMD's content licensing and Credifair crediting activities, and reference many of the same agencies and brands.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory social profiles
Digital presenceFMD - The Fashion Model Directory financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about FMD - The Fashion Model Directory
What does FMD - The Fashion Model Directory do?
FMD operates the world's largest credited fashion database containing over 1M+ fashion photographs and tens of thousands of professional profiles across models, agencies, magazines, brands, designers, photographers, shows, advertisements, catalogues, and lookbooks. The platform also functions as a fashion news agency, provides the Credifair on-the-fly photography crediting system, and offers content licensing and advertising solutions to global fashion brands.
Is FMD - The Fashion Model Directory a public or private company?
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was FMD - The Fashion Model Directory founded?
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory was founded in 1998. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is FMD - The Fashion Model Directory based?
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does FMD - The Fashion Model Directory make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Advertising is the primary driver. The others are content Licensing.
Who are FMD - The Fashion Model Directory's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Highsnobiety, Who What Wear, Vogue, Business of Fashion, Fashionista and WWD (Women's Wear Daily). Models.com is listed as a direct peer. Emerging players are The Impression and Model Management. Getty Images / Fashion content libraries is listed as an others.
Does FMD - The Fashion Model Directory have an API?
Yes. FMD offers custom API solutions free of charge to selected partners. With an API, partners can enrich their content and articles automatically. The site also provides RSS and Atom syndication feeds for news content distribution. The Terms of Use reference Content Feeds including RSS and APIs as means by which FMD offers feeds of story headlines in XML or JSON format to visitors who use Feed aggregators.
What industry is FMD - The Fashion Model Directory in?
FMD - The Fashion Model Directory's product category is Online Fashion Database and Directory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAEAA, Consumer Lifestyle & Fashion Magazines, with a secondary code of HDAEADAE, Reference Data Management (RDM). Its NAICS code is 51314 and its SIC code is 7370.