IMG Fashion Asia Pacific has officially kicked off the inaugural instalment of Swim Fashion Week @ Sanctuary Cove (February 25 - 28). Assia Benmedjdoub speaks to senior vice president and managing director Simon Lock about how the show found its feet.
How was the idea for Swim Fashion Week @ Sanctuary Cove born?
Mercedes-Benz Swim Fashion Week in Miami has been run successfully by IMG since 2005. We were looking to take the footprint established by this event and launch it in the Asia Pacific region, where there is a clear demand for swimwear and great potential for growth. We looked at a number of different locations around the Asia Pacific - places like Phuket, the Phillipines, Vietnam and China - before being approached by Sanctuary Cove. After that, everything just fell into place, it's the perfect location.
Were you able to translate some of the key features from Mercedes-Benz Swim Fashion Week in Miami?
Absolutely, we very much used the Miami event as a footprint for this event. The schedule lay out is similar in that all of the shows run throughout the evening, while the agent and designer suites will be open for media and buying appointments during the day. The lagoon poolside location of the exhibition spaces and collection showroom is also very much in keeping with what we've done with the event in Miami too.
What were the first few steps taken in order to get the trade show on its feet?
Once we'd secured the support of Mulpha Australia and Sanctuary Cove, it was about taking the concept out to the industry and designers and enlisting their support. We revealed the concept to our national advisory board before announcing it to media. Their initial reaction was overwhelmingly positive and their feedback wisely taken on board in the planning stages. Zimmermann was approached and became the first designers to sign on - they've shown at the Miami swim shows for a number of years now and at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week every year since the beginning. A strong website was important to get up as soon as possible and we are really happy to have done this - in particular is the new News Reader feature which captures some of the equity in the huge breadth of media coverage surrounding the event and its participants.
What's been the most challenging aspect of launching the event?
When you launch an event with just three months to turn it around - and you're launching in a tough economic climate - securing sponsorship was going to be a challenge. We're in a very strong position in that we have Sanctuary Cove and Mulpha Australia as our major partners in the event and they have been amazing to work with. We have also managed to secure some other key partners in John Freida, Issada, and Peroni in year one. The interest is definitely there from corporate partners, but the tight timeframe did make things more challenging.
What's been the most rewarding aspect so far?
The industry response to the event has been very rewarding. Not just designers but buyers and media are all buying into the idea and seeing what a huge opportunity this can be for the Australian swimwear industry. We're thrilled with the response.
Were there any funny or amusing moments along the way?
Realising we'll have a contingent of industry we work with 12 months of the year potentially all sitting around a pool in their swimwear over the course of the week, especially in downtime. That'll surely encourage many to go and buy a new swim outfit.