Australian designers urged to shift goalposts

SYDNEY: A high-profile buyer has accused Australian designers of failing to put together globally-competitive collections.
Speaking at an event hosted by Fashion Group International, Myer womenswear business manager Mark Bingemann said Australian designers would continue to struggle to attract international interest until they put more effort into the quality of their collections.
"What we're really good at in the Australian market is we're really great at public relations. . . Simon [Lock, founder of Australian Fashion Week] does an amazing job making fashion a PR event. We're great on editorial. We're fantastic at the sell job. But we're not good enough at designing a collection that is globally-competitive."
Bingemann, who is currently developing and enhancing the assortment of international brands from Europe and the US at the department store, said he was exposed to many "fantastic" international fashion brands but found few Australian fashion brands capable of "thinking locally but acting globally".
In moving a brand from a domestic market to an international one, style would change, interpretation would change but the fundamentals - such as quality, fit, fabrication and product - would not, he said.
"What we want from Australian designers is to have a collection that is going to work as well in New York as it does in Sydney, as it does in Melbourne. The talent here is fantastic. Our food is internationally-acclaimed, our architecture is internationally-acclaimed. Not yet is our fashion business."
Subfusco designer Josh Scacheri agreed Australian fashion was on par with larger international names, but argued an uneducated market made it difficult for local designers both home and abroad.
"We have quite excellent designers, the only problem making it hard for a designer to succeed is because they're [consumers] are not educated. You've got a handful of people who know what style is but the average Australian isn't really fashionable and that's where it's hard for designers to make it both here and overseas."
For his part, Fashionassassin designer Alex Zabotto-Bentley argued it was up to designers themselves to take control of their brand and their collections.
Zabotto-Bentley said everyday of his life he applauded designers such as Kirrily Johnston and Alice McCall who had managed to compete effectively at the top end of the market against international brands that "just sucked everyone in".
The key to this success was self-belief, he said.
"We [Australian designers] have to be here locally but we've got to think as though we're these huge uber brands. We need to travel into other markets presuming that we're as great and as amazing as everyone else so we can compete for that market share."