Fashion Brands Sell Styles Still on Runway to Woo Millennials

In a world where younger consumers can summon a car or a meal at the click of a button, fashion houses are realizing that their next generation of customers isn’t keen to wait six months for runway styles to hit store shelves.

Millennials’ impatience has brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren Corp., Coach Inc., Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. and Tom Ford turning their New York Fashion Week runway shows into a so-called see-now-buy-now format. That’s transforming the event -- previously a showcase for industry insiders and items that won’t appear until the following season -- into a source of cold, hard, immediate sales.