BRISBANE: Organisers of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival (MBFF) are introducing a raft of new measures to boost sales and foot traffic at the $850,000 event.
Festival director Lindsay Bennett revealed MBFF is being staged over the weekend for the first time, with hopes the work and family-friendly schedule will assist in achieving sell-outs to festival events.
MBFF has also teamed up with Queensland Rail to broaden its reach to regional customers and will launch an online magazine to showcase the festival's happenings.
In addition, the festival will relocate in 2010, leaving Brisbane's City Hall behind and moving into the South Bank precinct for the next three years. The move is due to renovation work being undertaken on City Hall.
Bennett revealed the fifth annual instalment of MBFF is due to cost in excess of $850,000.
“Almost 20,000 people attended shows and workshops in 2009 – an increase of 33 per cent on the year before – with a number of shows selling out. We are confident we can repeat that success and continue building Queensland's reputation as a fashion force to be reckoned with,” Bennett said.
Scheduled to run August 7 to 13, MBFF will showcase 86 international and local designers including Easton Pearson, Lisa Ho, Scanlan and Theodore and Pistols at Dawn.
Organisers hope the event will generate retail sales in excess of $4.5 million and tickets to attend the consumer festival start from $10.