With Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia now set to take place in March, leading designers reveal what the new date will mean for fabric deliveries, production and sales.
Jayson Brunsdon: “The new dates for MBFWA place the event at the beginning of the spring summer sales period rather than at its closure or beyond. The previous dates create major problems for production. A three month period is required to receive fabric deliveries, produce the garments and deliver to stores. Consequently with the event currently being held in early May it only leaves two months until July deliveries which creates many problems especially as many of the designers showing are small businesses and depend upon national department stores to sustain their growth. Department stores require July deliveries for spring collections and if export is another factor that’s important to the industry then there are strict delivery dates to be adhered to from overseas stores.
With the event moved to late March these problems can be averted. Basically there will be a concentration of buyers attending and the sales period can kick off then and continue throughout April. Orders can be collated by late April rather than stretching until late May. Fashion Week also provides designers with the visual images which buyers find necessary in order to place their orders and to be tempted into placing. Currently designers need to provide a photo lookbook prior to their Fashion Week images which becomes price prohibitive.
The media coverage in late March generates brand awareness and results in increased sales of in store winter merchandise. This is important to the sales period for winter as winter is traditionally a slow season in Australia. It also allows Australian designers a greater degree of exposure as magazines can plan their July issues in advance and feature the collections being shown as they go in store and international media coverage can follow on from the northern fashion weeks taking place throughout February and march.
The media coverage also opens up new markets to Australian designers and if buyers are interested in placing orders it gives the designers the time to produce. Currently some buyers who become aware of designers after the event have to be turned away from placing orders as its too late to produce their orders. The fabric has been ordered and if late orders are taken the fabric may not be available.
The current dates confuse the buyers and create difficulties for designers. I use the event primarily as a media platform because of the late timing in the sales period. With the new dates the event can be utilised as a vehicle for achieving success in both categories.
Regarding the idea of showcasing the event as a “resort” collections week in June I don’t believe enough international buyers will attend in order to warrant the cost of producing it. National stores including department stores generally are not placing second summer/resort orders for October/November deliveries. The customer has been trained to buy sale stock by the beginning of December and new full priced deliveries remain on the shelves throughout the Christmas and new year period.
Camilla Franks: “When I heard about the change, my first response was ‘about time!’. This decision to move Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia to late March will assist greatly by allowing us to streamline our production model to receive all orders post MBFWA. Especially when dealing with the major department stores who are asking for earlier deliveries. If you are only showcasing in May, to be in-store at David Jones by June/July just doesn’t work. By bringing the event back to March, this gives us an extra two months production lead times. Currently, we sell to department store David Jones during Feb/March but then interstate and international buyers don’t see the collection until Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia so then we have to do two orders and two production runs. Cleans up our production pipeline immensely.”
Bowie Wong: “Right now, buyers that know Bowie have already viewed my collections before MBFWA to make their orders otherwise we wouldn’t be able to have the collections ready in time to get in-store. The new timing will allow me to show my collection to all my buyers in one go. Given that MBFWA will now follow on the international circuit after Tokyo – I think it will end up making more sense for International buyers to come to Sydney. Personally, I saw many international buyers in Tokyo and everyone’s looking for something new and interesting. International buyers, even though they will finish the Northern Hemisphere cycle buying Autumn Winter, many will be buying Spring Summer collections for delivery into stores June/July – right on the spot of when the summer spending begins.”
