Refinery 29 has a look at the hardest working designers in the biz.

Given the current economic climate, we couldn’t help but feel this latest Fashion Week was overcast with a chance of showers. Yet, when clouds form and belts tighten, it becomes even easier to see which designers can genuinely innovate no matter how scant their resources, and which clothiers are just smoke and mirrors held up by money. Creating short films to showcase collections, traveling to remote Indian villages for fresh inspiration, opening new boutiques in a time when others are closing flagships—fashion’s best entrepreneurs are using extraordinary effort and ingenuity to grow their brands in the face of a shrinking economy. Take a few lessons from our top ten of the hardest working designers in fashion—because, when times get tough, the best get even tougher. – From Refinery 29