Australia’s Fashion Week is in its 17th year, but it’s still got some growing up to do.
One of its most pressing issues is timing – its May scheduling means designers are too late for local spring-summer collections and too early for resortwear lineups, which typically arrive in the middle of the year.
This is something IMG, which organizes Australia Fashion Week, is trying to fix, said Jarrad Clark, IMG’s global production director and a guest judge on the country’s reality show “Project Runway.”
“The reason the event is when it is now is because of decisions that were made 17 years ago,” said Mr. Clark, “but the world has changed. The buying side has changed, the retailing has changed and the consumer interaction has changed, so we definitely need to make a change to our timing.”
That’s not to say Sydney’s fashion industry hasn’t evolved. Buyers used to wait months to get their hands on catwalk items, but this year Sydney-based label Toi et Moi is distributing nearly a third of its “Frenchie chic” collection within hours.
Compare that to Burberry, regarded by many as the global leader in the runway-to-reality trend, which sold key pieces from its spring-summer collections online last year so that they arrived in customers’ homes within weeks of being shown. Australian brands An Ode to No One and Bless’ed Are the Meek have similar plans to speed up their distribution, selling shoes directly from the catwalk within three hours through Australian footwear website StyleTread.
But fashion week isn’t limiting its sights to the domestic market. Mr. Clark said IMG is working with some of Australia’s designers – including Dion Lee, who pulled out of the event at the last minute to focus on London Fashion Week in September – to help them expand overseas.
“We want to be working with them across the 12 months, so if they want to go to other markets, we’ve got a footprint there,” he said. “This event should be a springboard for designers looking to grow their businesses internationally.”
One of its most pressing issues is timing – its May scheduling means designers are too late for local spring-summer collections and too early for resortwear lineups, which typically arrive in the middle of the year.
This is something IMG, which organizes Australia Fashion Week, is trying to fix, said Jarrad Clark, IMG’s global production director and a guest judge on the country’s reality show “Project Runway.”
“The reason the event is when it is now is because of decisions that were made 17 years ago,” said Mr. Clark, “but the world has changed. The buying side has changed, the retailing has changed and the consumer interaction has changed, so we definitely need to make a change to our timing.”
That’s not to say Sydney’s fashion industry hasn’t evolved. Buyers used to wait months to get their hands on catwalk items, but this year Sydney-based label Toi et Moi is distributing nearly a third of its “Frenchie chic” collection within hours.
Compare that to Burberry, regarded by many as the global leader in the runway-to-reality trend, which sold key pieces from its spring-summer collections online last year so that they arrived in customers’ homes within weeks of being shown. Australian brands An Ode to No One and Bless’ed Are the Meek have similar plans to speed up their distribution, selling shoes directly from the catwalk within three hours through Australian footwear website StyleTread.
But fashion week isn’t limiting its sights to the domestic market. Mr. Clark said IMG is working with some of Australia’s designers – including Dion Lee, who pulled out of the event at the last minute to focus on London Fashion Week in September – to help them expand overseas.
“We want to be working with them across the 12 months, so if they want to go to other markets, we’ve got a footprint there,” he said. “This event should be a springboard for designers looking to grow their businesses internationally.”
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