With sales of designer apparel plunging, it might come as a surprise that officials of the Council of Fashion Designers of America were talking up new opportunities for designers at a breakfast on Thursday in New York.

One possibility that is in the early stages of discussion is a CFDA-sponsored sample sale on Gilt.com for small designers who don't have enough inventory or resources to launch their own sample sale, CFDA director of strategic partnerships Rachel Shechtman told designers and executives who attended the Business Service Network breakfast.

Ms. Shechtman said that plans were to run group sales quarterly with the first sale in early 2009, perhaps in time for the Academy Awards.

In September, Gilt Groupe, which runs the designer discount web site Gilt.com, sold samples for the emerging designer label Costello Tagliapietra a few days after sponsoring the label's Spring 2009 show at New York fashion week. Gilt Groupe plans to sponsor at least one more fashion show or presentation at the next fashion week in February, says Chairman Kevin Ryan.

"Sales have been good for us," Mr. Ryan said. "There's more merchandise that's available and more designers that need help finding a distribution channel."

Designer Sue Stemp said she left the lunch "feeling very positive" and planned to contact Mr. Ryan.