Fashion is easy to dismiss as shallow — an endlessly changeable series of vacuous, beautiful people obsessed with the silliness of clothing. The reality, however, is that at the centre of the glamour vortex business holds sway. It is the far less frivolous linchpin on which the glitz hinges.
The South African fashion industry is no exception and this week, as the South African fashion calendar kicks off in Johannesburg, the industry and its players have shifted to a higher gear. New sponsorships, partnerships and plans to boost the industry are being launched left, right and centre. But as some experts point out the continued fragmentation of South African fashion needs to be addressed before it can move forward.
In quick succession, the two organisers of local fashion events, Sanlam South Africa Fashion Week (SSAFW) and Africa Fashion International (AFI) have announced new partnerships.
Samsung joins SSAFW as the headline sponsor for a new model competition that includes some serious perks for the winners. The competition ties in with international modelling agency, Next Models, and the winner will receive a $75 000 contract and the chance to work in New York for a year, according to SSAFW director Lucilla Booyzen.
The competition, launched on Thursday, will take place across the country in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Booyzen believes the association with a company such as Next offers wider exposure for the local fashion industry and working connections to international markets.
”It’s about creating new opportunities,” she says, ”particularly business opportunities.”
In line with raising the profile of local fashion, AFI, the bosses behind Audi Jo’burg Fashion Week, which took place last weekend partnered with SABC3 and is dressing the channel’s continuity presenters in local labels. The proposal falls under the banner of a corporate social investment initiative and will be open to all young designers. An audience of almost seven million viewers will see about 70 new garments each month.
While developments around the respective fashion events are positive, the broader local industry is in a state of flux. The impact of Eastern imports, high labour costs, a dwindÂling skills base and recent reports of job shedding in our embattled textile sector are all real problems facing any young designer wanting to establish him or herself.
In a bid to help the industry regain its equilibrium, designer Gavin Rajah, in conjunction with Dutch businesswoman Lucy Bosscher and PR firm Total Exposure, will be launching the first fashion conference in Cape Town on April 24 and 25. Entitled Fashion Exchange +27, the conference is designed to connect local retailers, designers, manufacturers, suppliers and entrepreneurs with global fashion business experts.
”We have placed too much responsibility on the organisers of fashion weeks,” says Rajah, at the announcement of Fashion Exchange +27. ”Their responsibility is not to make designers successful but to give them a platform to show their work.”
”Designers struggle because they don’t have enough support. The responsibility lies with the [whole] industry,” says Rajah.
The conference will be an inclusive event, allowing people involved in various aspects of the industry to engage with one another.
Fashion Exchange +27 will also provide an online portal where young designers can access information, network and find fashion experts to assist and mentor them.
It is also hoped that the conference will see the creation of a collective for the fashion sector, one that can effectively voice its issues and concerns to the government.
The continued fragmentation of the industry, exacerbated by the strained relations between events organisers SSAFW and AFI, will not be easily solved.
Independent industry analyst Renato Palmi, who runs the ReDress Consultancy, believes the local fashion sector should be more open to frank analysis, particularly of events such as fashion weeks, to enhance the sector’s performance.
In a wide-ranging presentation that will be given at the SSAFW’s Arts & Culture Fashion Seminar, which runs alongside the fashion event, Palmi will examine everything that forms part of the local industry from the influence of big retail to government strategy and the proliferation of fashion events.
Palmi acknowledges that the Department of Arts and Culture has worked to link the informal sector, through crafters, with the fashion industry. But he says that while the Department of Trade and Industry has promoted participation in international exhibitions and trade fairs, it has offered no real strategy for the fashion sector. Indeed the department’s much-promised customised sector programme has still not materialised after four years.
Palmi will also critique the designer’s role in the local industry. According to him, many retailers, from small boutiques to large stores, find working with local designers, who often lack business skills and etiquette, very difficult. Added to this retailers find it difficult to mass manufacture locally designed garments that are too concerned with artistry and high fashion rather than wearability for the average consumer.
”Designers can’t see themselves as operating separately from the entire value chain,” he argues.
”I firmly believe that there is so much scope and opportunity for South African fashion, but to move forward as a collective it is imperative that we address certain issues, find mechanisms to advocate for fashion to have a stronger voice in policy development,” says Palmi.
”This can only be done if everyone involved in the industry uses opportunities like this to interrogate, motivate and take action for positive change.
