With NZ L’Oreal Fashion Week coming up it’s an exciting time for our designers and fashion lovers alike.  The event is in its 5th year and going from strength to strength.  Each year we await eagerly the special guests who come from far and wide to support our designers, each of whom lends a certain mystery value.  It takes us from our small world here in NZ and opens us up to dreaming about possibilities - that new account in New York, a celebrity wearing one of our garments down the red carpet or a lucrative magazine inclusion… the possibilities are eternal and ever-increasing.  It is a time to celebrate our own NZ designers for being so fabulous in a very competitive and commercial world.

As garment manufacture becomes ever more competitive and commercial with cheaper price points and better quality, the lifting of the game makes it even more of a credit to our local designers.  It’s not an easy market to maintain - export is challenging as the NZ dollar has risen in value against the Australian dollar, where much of our trade occurs.  Those looking beyond Australia to USA and France, for example, face huge challenges in terms of consistency of product quantities and guaranteed delivery dates.  Accounts are very demanding in their basic requirements and one slip-up will guarantee demise.  All this is fine for larger off-shore production companies providing to a NZ market, however for our designers, both more established and also for those smaller labels, it is no mean feat to have a seamless system in place to ensure on-going relationships and sales.  Trade NZ can be very helpful and supportive in this process.

We can celebrate that New Zealanders have fabulous choice, ranging from commercial store bought to designer labels.

For the smaller labels it is always the creativity that is such a delight to see up there on the cat-walk.  Each designer with their own distinctive signature look makes a huge contribution to our industry, now and for the future.  We can celebrate that New Zealanders have fabulous choice, ranging from commercial store bought to designer labels.  L’Oreal NZ fashion week provides a valuable platform for all the supporting industries to be involved, for example models, who are such an important part of the show and can really make a collection shine just that little bit brighter.  I look forward to the thrill of the cat-walk; the bustle of inspiration and energy and sheer joy of those final creations from our very talented NZ designers.  Go fashion!  Hair and make-up get the opportunity to dazzle with their visions in a rare environment where they can really let their creativity loose. Fashion graduates are fabulous ushers and dressers, as they are brimming with so much enthusiasm and dedication to the industry.  Fashion week is proof to fashion graduates that there is ‘design’ out there, and makes their dream possible to make fashion a viable career.   Production managers and organizational staff get the chance to strut their stuff too, being a crucial part of the whole process coming together, quite literally, ‘seamlessly’.  Overall, Fashion week is an essential mechanism to propel fashion forwards for NZ and beyond and we wish all the participating designers the very best for their upcoming shows.  We can’t wait to see what you’ve got for us this year!