SYDNEY: Big players have reported the most lucrative gains from Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival (RSFF), with smaller brands struggling to cut about the noise.
The consumer fashion festival, which was held from August 23 to 28, featured a mixture of catwalk shows and satellite events for the general public. Kookai creative director Danielle Vagner said the brand’s catwalk show at the Sydney Town Hall spurred an immediate post-show spike in traffic at its nearby The Galeries store.
“An extra 265 people walked through the door when the event finished,” she said. “It was enormous what we made. Obviously we do our website, our catalogues and campaigns and are lucky to get editorial. But I have never seen such an immediate response to product.”
Westfield general manager of marketing John Batistich said the nine Westfield Runway shows at the Bondi Junction centre saw 2500 seated guests attend.
“We are yet to do a full review, but we were happy with the productions and retailers involved,” he said.
Batistich would not confirm if the company will fulfil an official partnership role with RSFF again in 2011.
Pink Zebra womenswear store participated in the Paddington Alive satellite event with a 15-per-cent-off day. Store manager Shannon Howe said transactions were well over double the previous Saturday result.
“It was a really good day; we had regulars and new people in,” she said. “We would definitely like to do it again.”
Anna Design director Anna Hookway provided product for the Little Joe and Colin Heaney catwalk shows, as well as holding a gift-with-purchase day at her Mosman store.
Hookway said this tripled standard foot traffic. The brand also took part in the Australian Fashion Exchange’s pop-up store for emerging labels at the QVB, which she said was less successful.
“It was totally in the wrong position,” she said. “There were really only a handful of people that came up. We actually packed up and left as we were so disappointed.”
Australian Fashion Exchange director Ashan Winslow acknowledged it was quiet, but said the individual designers needed to do more self-promotion.
“Designers should look at the cost of the store [$1000 each] and see there is no budget for a big marketing campaign,” he said. “Camilla and Nicola Finetti did well as they have a name, but the emerging brands have to work hard to build a consumer base.”
Melinda Oliver