Honorees

Designers, manufacturers, retailers, influencers, and collaborators all deserve a spotlight of their own!

In 2025 we are proud to recognize:

Retailer of the Year

Target

Founded in 1962 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Target is one of the largest retailers in the United States. Committed to helping families discover the joy of everyday life, Target has made a significant mark on the apparel and footwear industry as a leader and visionary. With its curated apparel and accessories assortment of national brand favorites, expertly designed owned brands and industry-leading partnerships, Target has become synonymous with delivering quality style at an incredible value. For 25 years, Target has democratized fashion by partnering with nearly 200 of the biggest and most respected names in the fashion industry to bring consumers the latest trends, styles, designers and brands they may not have heard of or had access to.

Company of the Year

American Textile Company
Lance Ruttenberg, President and CEO, accepting

American Textile Company was founded in 1925 by 5 brothers in the Ruttenberg family from Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. They began as a small manufacturer of protective furniture covers for local retailers. Today, the firm is a multi-brand manufacturer and North America’s largest supplier of bed pillows and related utility bedding categories to nearly every US retailer that sells bedding, and a growing list of global retailers.

In 2025 American Textile will celebrate its 100-year anniversary. It is still family-owned and operated as it has expanded from a single factory in Pittsburgh to four strategically located US factories, a plant in El Salvador, and a significant footprint in China to source raw materials and finished goods globally. The company today has over 1,000 associates around the world. In addition, they have made significant investments that are driving sustained double-digit growth in the eCommerce and Hospitality channels. The company is also leveraging its growing scale and efficiency to become a leading contract manufacturer.

Deeply committed to innovation, the firm’s vision of Better Sleep, Better Life captures its mission to improve lives by helping millions of people to sleep better every night.

Lance Ruttenberg is the President and Chief Executive Officer of American Textile Company (ATC), a Pittsburgh-based multi-brand manufacturer of bed pillows and related utility bedding categories. These include the No. 1 allergen bedding brand AllerEase®, leading mattress brands Sealy® and TempurPedic under license, and numerous store brand programs. ATC’s vision of Better Sleep, Better Life captures its mission to improve lives by helping millions of people to sleep better every night.

Mr. Ruttenberg became President in 2011 and CEO of American Textile in 2015, and is a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to becoming President, he held a series of successful leadership roles in which he diversified the firm’s manufacturing from a single factory in Pittsburgh to four strategically located US facilities, a plant in El Salvador, and a significant footprint in China. The company today has over 1,000 associates.

Partnering with his brother and Executive Vice President Blake Ruttenberg, ATC now supplies nearly every US retailer that sells utility bedding, and a growing list of global retailers. In addition, they have made significant investments that are driving sustained double-digit growth in the eCommerce and Hospitality channels. The company is also leveraging its growing scale and efficiency to become a leading contract manufacturer.

Under Mr. Ruttenberg’s leadership, America Textile’s sales have increased over 40X.

Mr. Ruttenberg is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation and serves on their Nominating Committee. He is a member of the Council for the Hillman Cancer Institute. He is an alumnus and a prior member of the Board of Trustees of Shadyside Academy.

Mr. Ruttenberg is a graduate of Tulane University, and has an MBA from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He and his wife Nicole reside in Pittsburgh with their daughters Elle, Reese and Brooklyn.

Fashion Maverick

Dr. D’Wayne Edwards
President, Pensole Lewis College

Dr. D’Wayne Edwards started his career as an entry-level footwear designer at LA Gear in 1989, at just 19 years old, despite lacking formal education. He holds over 50 patents and has designed more than 500 footwear styles for iconic artists like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Nas. His designs have been worn by athletes at six Olympic Games and are showcased in MLB, NFL, and NBA stadiums by legends such as Derek Jeter, Carmelo Anthony, and Michael Jordan.

Over the past 35 years, Edwards has received numerous accolades, including the Red Dot Award and three Mercedes-Benz Fashion Awards. He has been recognized as one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Business Insider's 100 People Transforming Business, and as part of the Business of Fashion 500 Influential People in Fashion.

In 2010, Edwards founded PENSOLE, the first academy in the United States dedicated solely to footwear design, located in Portland, Oregon. PENSOLE has quickly become a leading footwear design school, forming partnerships with top brands and retailers. The academy has placed over 700 alumni in positions at major companies like Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Brooks, Vans, Puma, Timberland, The North Face, JORDAN, and Zenga.

He has taught and lectured at prestigious institutions worldwide, including ArtCenter in Pasadena, Parsons in New York, MIT in Boston, Kolding Design School in Denmark, and Harvard University. In 2019, ArtCenter honored him with an Honorary Doctorate degree, making him one of only four recipients in the school's 90-year history.

Edwards is also known for promoting diversity in design. He organized the annual Black Footwear Forum (BFF), which connects over 600 Black and Brown designers and attracts notable figures like Ruth E. Carter. His efforts have earned him awards such as the Footwear News Icon Award, the IDSA Special Achievement Award, and the Footwear Plus Lifetime Achievement Award. Additionally, he has been recognized as one of the Most Influential People in the Sneaker Industry by COMPLEX and included in the Business of Fashion 500 global innovators list.

Realizing his dream of establishing the first Black-owned footwear factory in the United States, Edwards launched JEMS, a platform that empowers young Black designers to create and build their own brands.

His most significant achievement to date is leading the reopening of Detroit's Pensole Lewis College (PLC), where he serves as president. PLC Detroit is the first design-focused HBCU and the first HBCU to reopen, recognized by Fast Company as one of the world's most innovative design companies in 2022.

Throughout his illustrious career, D'Wayne Edwards' mission has been to leave the industry better than he found it and to make the conversation around diversity a non-issue.

Trailblazer

Katherine Gold
President and CEO, GoldBug

Founded more than 50 years ago in Denver, Colorado, Gold, Inc. ("GoldBug") has established itself as a leader in the infant and children’s accessories market. A proudly woman-owned company, GoldBug designs and manufactures high-quality products that families trust for their everyday needs, from baby gear to essential accessories.

At the helm of GoldBug is Katherine Gold, a woman and mother whose entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to empowering women have shaped the company’s success. Katherine’s leadership has transformed GoldBug into one of the most prominent leaders in the industry, known for their innovative and thoughtful products. Her passion for the business is reflected in every product GoldBug creates, as well as in the company’s dynamic culture and growth.

Giving back is a cornerstone of GoldBug’s philosophy, and Katherine exemplifies this through her dedication to philanthropy, advocacy, and global partnerships. She currently serves as Treasurer on the Executive Committee of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), the national trade association representing apparel and footwear companies. In addition, Katherine is a board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and Delivering Good, an organization dedicated to supporting children and families in need. She has also previously served as Board Chair of the Rose Community Foundation and the Colorado Children’s Campaign, advocating for policies that improve child health and education.

Katherine’s most recent focus is on maternal health, an issue close to her heart. GoldBug is actively partnering with local organizations in Colorado to combat maternal mortality and improve maternal health outcomes. By supporting initiatives that directly impact local communities, Katherine hopes to drive positive change and expand these efforts to improve birth outcomes nationwide.

For Katherine, corporate social responsibility isn’t just about doing good—it’s about making a measurable impact. By leveraging GoldBug as a platform for change, she is not only enhancing the lives of families but also contributing to vital public health and equity initiatives. This commitment to helping mothers and children thrive is central to GoldBug’s mission and reflects Katherine’s enduring belief in the power of business to drive positive social change.

Eco-Steward of the Year

Apparel Impact Institute
Lewis Perkins, President, accepting

Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) was launched in 2017 to identify, fund, scale, and measure the apparel and footwear industry’s proven environmental impact solutions. Since its founding, Aii has worked with over 55 global brand and retail partners, engaged with over 1,200 facilities, and achieved reductions of over 6.5Mt CO2e over the useful life. President Lewis Perkins’s passion for sustainability and non-profit work has included strategic roles with organizations such as The Clean Air Campaign, 360i, and USWeb/CKS. He is an Ashoka and C&A Foundation Strategy Thought Partner for social entrepreneurs, a 2016 and 2017 member of the H&M Global Change Award Expert Panel, and a Design Mentor for both the Council of Fashion Designers of America Design Initiative–Eco Design Challenge Accelerator and the IDEO & Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy “Circular Design Competition.” Perkins has also been a participant of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Consumption.

Designer of the Year

Ulla Johnson

Her work is anchored in creating transportive, emboldening collections crafted with integrity, Ulla Johnson is the essence of what it means to be an American designer in the 21st century. With a focus on authenticity, beauty and empowering those that wear the collections, Ulla Johnson has never wavered on her steadfast attention to the details of construction that have become her hallmark, basing each of her collections on a foundation of natural fibers, beautiful finishing, and ease of fit and form. An American designer and owner of the eponymous clothing brand, Johnson is dedicated to investing in her supply chain, working with artisans and craftspeople across the globe including Peru, Kenya, India to Uruguay with a focus on uplifting, celebrating and sustaining traditional craft in often female-led rural communities. Johnson's philanthropic work is focused on support of women's advocacy, social justice, the preservation of craft, and environmental conservation.