New York Fashion Week, which begins Thursday, is looking like one of the busiest and most upbeat the city has seen in recent years.

Just as shoppers are beginning to think about buying spring 2012 clothes, which are in stores now, the fashion industry is turning to fall 2012. The week is dominated by big—or famous—U.S. brands such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan. Crowded around them are myriad smaller brands—Milly, Tracy Reese and Zac Posen, to name a few.

More than 200 shows and presentations are scheduled to take place during the "week," which has expanded in recent years to nine days in order to accommodate so many events.

This season will be marked by enthusiasm for reaching consumers overseas, particularly the Chinese, who are proving to be prodigious buyers of fashion and increasingly interested in U.S. brands. Japanese store buyers are also on the rise, according to several U.S. labels. (At the same time, U.S. consumers are becoming more interested in Japan's urban styles.)

Digital technologies and social media are playing an important role in the attention given to the big global fashion weeks, which begin with New York and move on to London, Milan and finally Paris, ending in March.

Fashion weeks were once invitation-only trade shows where store buyers and magazine editors sought out the styles for the next season. But live-stream shows and mobile apps are making it possible for consumers to watch runway events from their laptops and cellphones.

As a result of this consumer attention, new brands will be in New York that have never before held runway shows. Levi's will debut a runway show for the first time during the week, as will the Theia line of dresses and gowns.

Designer Prabal Gurung will show a new label, called ICB by Prabal Gurung, in an online-only digital show that will air on Feb. 15. It is the debut of a new digital venture by communications and production house KCD, which plans to produce more online-only shows in the future.

Much of the week will take place at Lincoln Center—which will gear up on Sunday with Diane von Furstenberg's collection at the tent venue organized by IMG's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. In the fourth season since the shows moved from Bryant Park, designers are requesting to use more areas of Lincoln Center—including its garage and surrounding hallways and building lobbies.

Yet at least as many shows will take place at venues elsewhere in Manhattan. The schedule is so packed that at times, three or four collections will be shown at the same hour, in different parts of the city. It's an example of economic comeback as small entrepreneurs are fighting for space alongside big established brands.