Small businesses granted a re-think
Around 71 enterprises - including high profile fashion labels, Gwendolynne, Camilla & Marc and Mad Cortes - were successful in attaining the first round of the new grants, announced by Federal Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane on June 25.
Melbourne's Gwendolynne designer Gwendolynne Burkin received $26,000 to develop a couture label, a radical brand re-positioning away from her ready-to-wear business, which she planned to phase out.
The Gwendolynne couture range would feature directional evening and bridal gowns - priced between $2500 and $8000 - with a strong emphasis on bespoke-quality service.
"There's such a saturation of [ready-to-wear] product in the market, the culture of constant sales is now so predominant and there is so much imported product that I've identified contemporary bridal and evening wear as a much more viable business," she said.
"I think smaller, more specialised businesses are the future of the Australian fashion industry."
While Burkin declined to break down how the funds would be used, she admitted they would "greatly assist in building a couture business".
Her immediate priorities would include building a sample range and marketing, she said. Burkin said the Australian Fashion Council had assisted her in submitting her grant application.
Sydney label Camilla & Marc received $50,000 for the development of an enterprise management system, while Mad Cortes - also from Sydney - received three slices of funding to assist with manufacturing culture and process change, inventory planning and management culture and the implementation of e-business capabilities.
Other recipients included Sydney label Heirs & Grace, which received $50,000 to undertake market research and product testing in local and export markets and Esperance (WA) label Mermaid Leather, which will use its $8000 grant to fund a planning and marketing mentor.
The grants were the first in $25 million pledged by the Federal Government over the coming decade as part of a small business program designed to improve company enterprise culture, Minister McFarlane confirmed.
They promised to give small manufacturers "the room and funding to think about then plan for an expanded presence in the domestic and export markets," he said.
"This is an investment in the long-term future of the local TCF sector, whose future is linked closely to innovation and export involvement growth."