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About the desk
Independent
by design.
The Cast Index is an independent editorial desk tracking runway influence, fashion-week casting, and emerging model momentum.
No model, agency, or brand owns a position on this index. Every rank is earned through verifiable work, scored by a public formula, and labelled with the strength of its evidence.
01 / The desk
Who runs this.
The Cast Index is an independent editorial desk. It is not owned by, affiliated with, or funded by any modelling agency, fashion house, or media group.
The desk reviews runway records, campaign announcements, editorial placements and cultural signals from public, citable sources, then scores them against the published methodology. Every ranked profile shows its evidence, its sources and its confidence state, so readers can check the work rather than take it on trust.
02 / The mission
Evidence before opinion.
Fashion runs on reputation. Our job is to make that reputation inspectable: who is actually working, at which houses, and how recently.
The index measures current professional influence — not beauty, character, or human worth. The same four pillars, the same point values, and the same decay rules apply to every model in every market, from the Big Four circuit to the emerging weeks tracked on the Rising board.
03 / Independence
A ranking you can’t buy.
A ranking is only useful if nobody can purchase a place on it. Ours is structurally separated from every revenue line the desk operates.
- No model, agency, or brand can pay to enter, rise, or appear on the index or the Rising board.
- Scores are recalculated every Monday at 06:00 UTC from dated evidence, by formula — not negotiated.
- Formula changes ship as numbered versions on the public changelog; scores are never retroactively rewritten without a changelog entry.
- Corrections from anyone — subjects included — go to the desk and are applied at the next recalculation.
04 / Funding
How the desk pays its bills.
Four revenue lines keep the lights on. Every one of them sits behind an editorial firewall: none can buy, move, or soften a ranking.
Paid directory listings
Agencies, creatives and brands can pay for a verified directory listing. A listing never touches the editorial index.
Cast Index Pro subscriptions
Industry professionals pay for data, exports and casting tools built around the index — never for influence over it.
Event listings
Organisers can list fashion and beauty events in the events directory. Listings are clearly separated from editorial coverage.
05 / Contact & standards
Talk to the desk.
- Editorial & corrections
- desk@thecastindex.com
- The formula
- Index Rating methodology and its public changelog.
- Sourcing standards
- Read the editorial & sourcing policy.