June 19 marks one year since New York’s Fashion Workers Act entered its enforcement phase, and the legislation has already reshaped the relationship between models, agencies, and the brands that employ them. The law, signed in December 2024 and effective June 2025, requires model management agencies to register with the state and adhere to strict financial transparency rules.
Fashion workers’ advocacy group the Model Alliance has called the first year a success, while some agency representatives argue that compliance costs have strained smaller operations. The law’s long-term effect on the industry’s freelance workforce will become clearer as the next year of enforcement data is published.
The law’s impact extends beyond New York. Because New York is one of the world’s three major fashion capitals, the legislation effectively sets a standard that international agencies must meet if they want to do business there. Similar bills are being studied in California, the UK, and France.
The mandatory one-year grace period for agency registration recently ended, meaning unregistered firms can no longer operate legally in New York. The Department of Labor has confirmed it is actively reviewing compliance and has issued warnings to several agencies that failed to meet the deadline.
The most visible change has been in payment practices. Models now receive itemized statements showing exactly how much the client paid and how much the agency deducted — a level of transparency that was virtually nonexistent before the act. Several models have reported receiving back payments from agencies that had withheld earnings for years.
