Australia will witness a public relations battle of the fashion Goliaths during the first half of 2005 when two of the continent’s biggest fashion trade events — one in terms of size, the other in terms of profile and prestige — put on their biggest-ever shows while vying for Australia’s wholesale dollars for spring-summer 2005-2006.
Fashion Exposed, to be held March 6-8, and Mercedes Australian Fashion Week, to be held May 1-6, are two separate events in Australia at either ends of the trade fair spectrum.
Fashion Exposed lacks the glitz of MAFW, but makes up for it in size. The trade fair, which is focused on high-volume apparel, has grown 500 percent since it launched in September 2000.
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In response to this growth, the fair is moving for the first time for its upcoming edition. It will be closing down shop in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and taking up residence in the Sydney Exhibition & Convention Centre at Darling Harbour (the autumn-winter edition will remain in Melbourne).
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Organizers had originally booked over 215,000 square feet for the upcoming show, but had to reserve another 54,000 square feet in response to the show’s popularity. In total, Fashion Exposed will occupy five halls at the exhibition center.
“We had to get an extra hall to cater to the additional demand,” said Fashion Exposed project manager Sue Dight, adding that they are expecting some 450 exhibitors — a 20 percent increase on the September 2004 show — and 10,000 attendees, which Dight said is about 10 percent up on September.
“When we first booked Fashion Exposed five years ago, no one predicted the sort of the growth that we’ve had,” said Dight. She added, however, that the event may have now reached its size zenith at 269,000 square feet.
“It is the limit,” she said. “We’ll look at other options further down the track, such as whether we put accessories in another venue.”
The designer-focused segment of Fashion Exposed, Preview, is also growing.
The last edition welcomed some 56 exhibitors, including Untouched World and Trelise Cooper from New Zealand and Singapore’s Hansel; exhibitors are expected to climb to 80 in March.
Dight said Preview is at maximum capacity as well.
“There’s a definite need out there for this sort of fair,” she explained. “We’re continually knocking back international companies, but we don’t have enough room.”
Meanwhile, Fashion Exposed is attempting to lure more interest from the local press, nearly all of whom are based in Sydney and have hitherto ignored the event. To that end, they have appointed a public relations agency for the first time.
The change of location may also help to lure new retailers. David Bush, the general manager of collections for the 36-unit upscale department store David Jones, said he has never attended Fashion Exposed. But the proximity of Fashion Exposed’s upcoming show to Sydney may make a difference.
“It’s a very successful exhibition, but to date [it’s] not something that we’ve considered, so coming to Sydney makes it far more convenient. If they’re around the corner, it’s much easier to get your team to go and see what’s there,” said Bush, adding that the expansion of Preview would be an even greater sweetener.
“But as a general rule, [Fashion Exposed is] far more mainstream in their approach. Whereas at something like MAFW, we’re continually looking for new innovation in design and new brands onto the market, as opposed to new volume sellers.”
At 38,000 square feet, MAFW’s The Source trade fair component might be Lilliputian compared with Fashion Exposed. However, Australia’s first and to date only high-end ready-to-wear fashion event boasts the kind of slick, runway cachet — and media profile — that Fashion Exposed and indeed other Asia Pacific fashion weeks would kill for.
Since its May 1996 inception, MAFW has launched a multitude of local fashion designers to both a local and international audience. Included in this roster are names such as Akira Isogawa, Easton Pearson, Zimmermann, Tsubi and Michelle Jank.
The upcoming edition represents the 10th anniversary of the show’s spring-summer presentations.
To mark the occasion, MAFW is stretching its traditional runway schedule from four to six days for the first time to accommodate what organizers report is growing interest.
Included in the runway lineup, following the event’s new extended name as The Asia Pacific Fashion Week, will be the largest-ever Asia Pacific contingent from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and maybe, for the first time, Thailand and South Korea.
Extending from four to six days of shows is a big stretch and the industry here will no doubt be crossing its fingers that the cash-flow problems experienced after the rapid growth of the May 2004 event — 96 designer collections on the catwalk, up 55 percent from May 2003 — will have been ironed out.
In recent months, MAFW founder and chief executive officer Simon Lock has come under public fire from several unpaid creditors. At press time, Lock told WWD nearly all of the payments had been made and that the event was at no risk whatsoever.
“We spent more on [MAFW in May 2004] than we thought we were going to, and that was the problem. But it’s certainly caused a hiccup over the last six months,” said Lock.
Lock emphasized, however, “No one should be worried about the financial stability of MAFW.”
That’s no doubt comforting news to the legion of designers who have made their names at MAFW and the score of newcomers who now flock to it, eager to follow in the footsteps of overnight fashion success stories like sass & bide. Three years after emerging at MAFW as part of a group “New Generation” show, sass & bide is now an international hit and in September completed its second consecutive season on the New York runway.
Sass & bide designers Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke said they will have “a presence” at the May edition, either mounting a full-scale runway show or, pending their schedule, perhaps another charming garden party like the one they threw at a harborside mansion last year.
“MAFW is a wonderful vehicle for the exposure and development of Australian labels both domestically and internationally,” Clarke said. “MAFW played a very important role for the launch of our brand in May 2001 and it seems as an event it’s getting stronger and stronger. It’s making quite an impression on the global fashion week schedules.”