In 2001, ten years after the shows went commercial, IMG took over management of the New York fashion shows, spending $5 million to produce them that year (they were subsequently cancelled mid-week after the September 11 terrorist attacks), and increasing to an estimated $12 million this year. Last year, IMG turned a profit on the shows for the first time, according to the New York Post.

IMG’s take comes in some part from the fashion houses themselves, who pay more and more each year to wedge a coveted spot in the event. The largest tent now costs $48,000. Additional revenue comes from the Daily, IMG’s fashion-week daily publication, which Brandusa Niro, its publication director, insists has been profitable from the start. A single ad page runs $10,950, about half the cost of a page in Women’s Wear Daily. (Another small part of revenues comes from ticket sales to the public—$200 purchased through American Express, or via ads on websites, such as Craigslist, for $500 or more.)

The balance of the costs is covered by IMG’s deft packaging of the event, bringing in a host of multimillion-dollar sponsors and enticing them with earth-spanning deals. New this year are Pakistan and Berlin. Mercedes-Benz is the title sponsor of the events in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and, of course, Berlin, as well as other IMG fashion events. American Express is currently negotiating a deal similar in scope. DHL Express, which took over from U.P.S. as the official shipping sponsor this year, has stuck with just the U.S. market, as part of an overall branding strategy. “Our heritage is international shipping,” says Karen Jones, DHL senior vice president of corporate and marketing communications. “We are just now on the journey of building the brand in the U.S.”

If all the sponsorship and rising rents seem a bit too commercial for something considered by some to be an art, don’t forget that, at the end of the day, these displays of haute couture are at their core simply trade shows, serving markets with needs.

Didier Grumbach, who heads up the Fédération Française de la Couture, a trade group that has been organizing shows since the 1930s, notes, “There is a need in most continents for local fashion weeks to cater to local supply and distribution. China needs a fashion week for its own market. All the retailers in the world cannot come to Paris. It wouldn’t make sense.”

In other words, there is Fashion with a capital F, which appears on the runways of New York, Milan, Paris, and London. But there are also designers in local markets who make clothes for a local clientele. Take Lakmi fashion week: It was sponsored by the Gitanjali Group—a large jewelry maker in the region—and featured names like Gayatri Khanna and Anuj Sharma. Not every designer needs to show in Paris and not every retailer needs to go to Paris to buy. With IMG’s help, there are now glamorous shows to promote products in local markets.

“Everyone understands that these events are all about getting someone to go into a store with their credit card and buy clothing,” Mallis says. “If the designers come back to show again next season, then we’ve done our job.”