NATIONAL: Fashion competition website Launch Initiative will host an online business seminar series aimed at helping fledgling designers.
The monthly 'webinars', created in conjunction with coaching service Quantum Compass, will provide young designers with coaching and mentoring advice on how to start and run a fashion label.
The first full-length webinar will be held on November 20 and will allow Launch Initiative designer members to ask live questions of participating industry experts.
Spokesperson for Launch Initiative, Martin Hills, said that while the advice on offer would usually only be accessible via expensive business courses, the webinars would be available to designer members for free.
The webinars are scheduled to run each month for the next year and will be accompanied by regular online newsletters.
Hills said he hoped the program would be extended beyond the initial twelve month schedule.
The online seminars add to other new projects recently undertaken by the fashion website, including its first menswear design competition.
The menswear design brief was emailed to members in late August and entries for the competition were received from across Australia and the world. The top designs are currently available for viewing online and members of the public are encouraged to vote for their favourites. The most popular design will be manufactured and sold on Launch Initiative from November.
As with all Launch Initiative competitions, the winning designer will retain the license of their design.
Pitched as an online version of Project Runway, Launch Initiative aims to offer design students a foot in the door of the fashion industry. Every few weeks, the website emails a brief to designer members, who can then submit their creations to the website for a fee. Launch Initiative's team of professional designers select the top submissions to be voted on by the public and the winning designer receives a cash royalty on every finished product sold.
The website has previously run competitions for womenswear and sleepwear. Launch Initiative's second womenswear collection will be released at the end of October.