Aussies snubbed in fashion capital
Designers and exporters who took part in the annual event have slammed both Sodes - a subsidiary of Pret-a-Porter Paris - and its Australian agent Promosalons for publicising a special "Australian Design Focus" they claim never took place.
Maragaret Farrell, managing director of Perth-based exporting group Sukimoo, said local exhibitors were guaranteed extensive media coverage and prominent positioning as part of the inaugral focus, but received neither.
"Basically [they] over-charged, over-promised and under-performed and [didn't] care less about the actual designers who paid huge money for the event. The over-promised Australian Design Focus never happened, not one journalist or photographer came to our stand during the whole event. We were ripped off and conned."
One of the key criticisms to emerge from the four-day event - which ran from September 1 to 4 at the Paris Expo Centre - was the poor layout, signage and placement of Australia's exhibition stand. With spaces reportedly priced at $A670 per square metre, designers such as Margaret Anne and Josephine Nathan of wolliwoolli said they had anticipated greater value for their money.
"They didn't have any names or the number of our stands until the second day," said Anne. "I was planning to meet the director and some students from the Paris Fashion Institute - where I studied - and they couldn't even find us because of the poor location. You can't be too cynical about these things, but I expected better from a show with so much history and hype."
Although Nathan is less critical of the event - confirming that she generated important business with a French gallery owner - she conceded the Paris showing did not live up to her expectations.
"In terms of the quality of the stand, I have had much better experiences at Australian shows and the World Boutique in Hong Kong where I have always been treated as a valuable exhibitor. Despite this, I do consider showing in Europe to have been a great learning experience."
Farrell, a long-time exhibitor at Pret-a-Porter Paris, was less obliging. Representing labels such high-profile labels as Bowie, FashionAssassin and Annah Stretton, Farrell said while she normally attracted 25 to 30 new clients at the event each season, this time she walked away with no new accounts and simply serviced existing buyers.
"This is purely down to location. I was positioned on the far back wall of the whole exhibition, an area known to us now as 'Siberia' as it's for unknown designers and attracts little or no foot traffic. I did encourage my buyers to visit the other designers and it resulted in a couple of small sales."
Despite lodging complaints with organisers on a daily basis, Farrell said they did nothing to reposition the stand and didn't even speak to exhibitors until the last day of the show.
"They have agreed to look into the fact that we were badly positioned but to date there has been no contact from them."
In response to criticisms about the event, Promosalons Australian representative Sandra Trew said she had lodged a full report to the show's organisers and that a formal response was still pending. Trew also added that despite poor feedback, frequent exhibitors such as Farrell have had great success in previous years at Paris Pret-a-Porter.
"Promosalons is the show's agent and there was no reason to think that the way it would be organised would be so unfavourable for the designers both in the layout of the area and the placement of this area in relation to the rest of the [show].
"[The organisers] have acknowledged receipt of my report but are still to get back to me to address the points raised, which in itself is very disappointing given the overwhelming dissatisfaction with the show by each of the designers."