TribaSpace - Latest Comments in Do Regional Fashion Weeks Fragment the Industry?

Re: Do Regional Fashion Weeks Fragment the Industry?

donnella tilery — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:43:27 -0000

Thanks to you both for the feedback.
I wanted to try and have a FW Coalition - as a global web get together, but think this may be to daunting and not the best way to connect with FW organizers if they feel we are all competing. Some of our issues are similar and I had a Canada team contact me for help for putting on a FW in Canada.

I simply like to support others and encourage opportunity for designers and other talent.
I am a former corporate trainers so it could be in my nature as a a bad habit.
Enjoying this blog and I am signed up for the newsletter!

Re: Do Regional Fashion Weeks Fragment the Industry?

Chris Cone — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:43:12 -0000

I think it's a question with different answers for different places. There's no way to consolidate North American fashion weeks in a way that sincerely serves the needs of what is such a diverse field of talent with often-limited resources. Portland Fashion Week has risen above the din of what I affectionately call "off-Broadway" fashion weeks, attracting press and designers & audience from around the globe, by building serious relationships with the wider industry, wider media, with New York industry professionals, with markets in LA, by having an international niche apropos to our city (eco-conscious), and by raising the regional bar when it comes to world-class production values. There's a difference between dilution and diversification, and diversification is a good thing. God knows I love New York, and have built incredibly valuable relationships with the industry there, but it's also a kind of hegemony there. By & large, regional fashion weeks are supporting designers who would not otherwise be able to show in New York just because, hypothetically, you suddenly took away regional opportunities. I think Donella is right in that for a regional fashion week to be a bonafide resource for designers, and get more press and media exposure besides just your local papers and morning variety shows, you need a strong and specialized mission, and to build direct ties to the industry in fashion capitals. Most out-of-capital fashion weeks end up just being local entertainments and lack any serious impact outside their own cities, and lack serious consumer and wholesale buyer programs to really benefit designers. With national emerging talent incubator organizations like Gen Art going out of business, I would argue that regional organizations and fashion weeks, both for established and emerging talent, are now more important than ever. -Chris Cone chris@portlandfashionweek.net

Re: Do Regional Fashion Weeks Fragment the Industry?

TribaSpace — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:09:44 -0000

Great, Donna! So glad to hear our article was helpful to you. We always love to support refreshing fashion week alternatives, so go ahead and post it on our fashion calendar.

Re: Do Regional Fashion Weeks Fragment the Industry?

donnella tilery — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:17:00 -0000

My name is Donnella Tilery, and I am the founder of New Jersey Fashion Week - this is a great post that I can appreciate. I think for regional fashion weeks to not get diluted - they key is to have a solid purpose and the right backing of support in sponsorship and goals.
My NJFW is designed specifically to promote emerging talent but the key is having a synergy between your sponsors and talent otherwise you are producing a "fashion show" with no goals and no way to track an serious outcome of success. I personally talked with Ruth Finley of NYFW and she was very kind to offer viable advice. I'd also like to meet or chat with other FW organizers and producers to hear their thoughts.