Associate Professor Karen Webster, Program Director Fashion, RMIT University and Festival Director of L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (2005 -2010) will be addressing the conference on ‘Nurturing the future - How events and industry collide’.
In 1996 a group of visionaries gathered together to discuss the status of the Australian fashion industry struggling within a recessed economy, which was consequently creating a mood of anxiety, frustration and culpability. An idea sprang forth to develop a festival that celebrated the greatness inherent in the local fashion industry, in an attempt to shift focus from the negative impacts to the positive case studies.
The Melbourne Fashion Festival was born, a consumer orientated event that was to invigorate demand for fashion and assist the local industry in strengthening its bottom line. Fast-track fifteen years and the Melbourne Fashion Festival is now purported to be the largest public fashion event globally and in 2010 attracted over 420,ooo participants, included over 300 participating designers and brands, generated $48 million in national and international media coverage and contributed over $70 million to the Australian economy.
Karen’s presentation at the Third International Conference of Fashion Incubators will address the impact of major fashion events on the local industry and how they can be used as incubators for all involved from graduates, emerging designers and established brands.
The conference is being hosted by community organisations Textile Clothing Footwear Resource Centre of WA (TCFWA), designedge Fashion Incubator, TCF Global and the Belmont BEC. These organisations provide those in the fashion, TCF creative industries access to business workshops, online mentoring, forums, industry cluster networks, and national and global linkages to other small businesses operating in the textile, clothing, footwear & leather industry across Australia and around the globe.
The Third International Conference of Fashion Incubators will offer new opportunities for fashion business educators and fashion trade events from around the globe to network, discuss best practice and expand global designer marketing and promotional opportunities. The Conference will aim to build on past successful conferences of International Fashion Incubators held in UK and USA. It will assist the growth and development of fashion industry business educators and those that nurture and support emerging designers, as well as elevating Perth on the international fashion stage.
The event will present challenging speakers at the forefront of the industry as well as a range of practitioners willing to share their experiences and expertise, exhibitors and great opportunities for global networking. The Conference will also announce the establishment of an International Fashion Incubator Organisation.
