Today IMG Fashion announced a new home for Australian Fashion Week, moving from its current home of the Overseas Passengers Terminal in Circular Quay to Carriageworks, Eveleigh in inner Sydney.
In its 18th year, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia will be held from April 8 to 13 in 2013 with new strategic alignments to help boost the Australian fashion industry both locally and abroad to press and buyers. This confirmed reports earlier this year that the event would be moved forward from its usual May date and to a whole new venue.
“This is an exciting announcement for the future of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia,” said Peter Levy, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of IMG Fashion Worldwide Event & Properties. “Carriageworks will allow IMG Fashion to spotlight our commitment to support the individual business objectives of the design community through the establishment of these forthcoming partnerships and flexible solutions available at the event’s new home”.
The new move will see the reintroduction of 3 runway/presentation options for designers with The Runway, The Theatre and The Box, as well as the expansion of the trade show element of Australian Fashion Week. From 2013 they will be teaming up with PREMIERE, the leading trade event for boutique brands to combine the existing Designer Suite Program and AEC’s Premiere exhibitor inventory to extend the opportunity for new Spring/Summer wholesale collections to be sold directly to registered buyers of both events.
“We are thrilled to be joining Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in this new initiative. It is an exciting time for the Australian fashion industry and we believe the two events coming together will provide designers with the opportunity to maximise sales to registered buyers of both events while extending valuable connections within the industry,” Harvey Stockbridge, Managing Director of Australian Exhibitions and Conferences, organisers of PREMIERE.
While the move was predicted earlier in the year, it should be interesting to see how Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia will grow and evolve because of it. Many of Australia’s biggest fashion names have long decided against showing at Australian Fashion Week due to the dates not lining up with the international ‘high summer’ buying schedule.
“This has been a long development process, and the event will take its first steps towards meeting the ever changing needs of our industry. The new calendar for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia allows designers time to deliver a collection ready for the runway, maximise media attention and increase domestic sales opportunities. This date also ensures high profile international exposure aligning with the global fashion event calendar,” says Elle Persson, Director of Strategy & Brand Development, IMG Fashion, Asia Pacific.
One question that we were left with was how the transportation issue will be resolved – Carriageworks in Eveliegh doesn’t have nearly the same level of the public transport or taxi options as Circular Quay. The release made mention that IMG Fashion will be working with Mercedes Benz to provide attendees with convenient transportation access to and from the on-site and off-site venues.
