Insider trading

It may have been the Kiwis hosting the event but internationals were the ones who flocked to Air New Zealand Fashion Week, as Tracey McEldowney reports.

Di Elsom has clocked up a lot of air miles flying between her residence on the Sydney foreshore and her adopted home in Auckland's Viaduct Basin.

Having dedicated at least a week each September for the past seven years to view Air New Zealand Fashion Week (ANZFW) up close, the Mosman-based retailer now feels as comfortable addressing organisers as she does greeting her own clientele.

In fact her annual visits - together with her not insignificant financial contribution - is so highly regarded she has now been accorded official ANZFW VIP status.

Yet despite all this entails the veteran retailer - half of whose stock is sourced from New Zealand - is adamant that even without the coveted white nametag that elevates her standing above other buyers at the annual frock fest, she would struggle to keep away.

"The thing I really like about the designers they show on schedule there is that a lot of the designs by their established designers are really hard to copy. It is very difficult to copy, for example, Trelise Cooper. If you want the stock in your store to look special then these are the sorts of things you have to take into account from a commercial point of view."

But for organisers of the trade event, staged this year from September 17 to 22, there are plenty of other commercial considerations at play as well.

As the largest importer of New Zealand fashions, Elsom and her merry band of fellow buyers do their bit to ensure around 20,000 Kiwi textile, clothing and footwear workers are kept in employment. Already accounting for an impressive $221.7 million of the country's annual apparel export earnings, Australians now buy more than 70 per cent of all clothing sent out of New Zealand with conservative estimates suggesting ANZFW alone generates a turnover of around $A2.7 million.

As New Zealand's closest neighbour, Australia is also expected to play a key part in helping New Zealand reach a five-year target strategy that will see Kiwi TCF companies exporting $1000 million of product by next year.

In an attempt to lure even more Australians over to the event, ANZFW organisers this year began working with trade development group Austrade in the hope of setting up Australian designer showrooms in the rooms of the event's major sponsor The Hilton. While the initiative struggled to get off the ground in time for the autumn/winter 2007 staging, it is hoped further promotion of the idea will lead to the idea being given more support in 2008.

Having engaged a new publicity agency just prior to the event, this year organisers also made a concerted effort to attract more Australian media, with representatives from titles including the Australian, The Sunday Herald, Fashion Trend and several other fashion publications all encouraged to cross the Tasman.

In a further publicity coup, organisers helped get the event off to a flying start with around 150 Australian buyers and media joining New Zealand-born model-turned-designer Rachel Hunter aboard a special flight from Sydney during which two sneak preview shows were staged onboard a catwalk 30,000 feet in the air.

Clearly the move had the desired effect with Australian and international buyers more than willing to loosen the purse strings.

While few buyers were prepared to divulge their buying budget, most picked up at least one new account while also reordering with existing suppliers.

First-time attendee Tanya Stevanovic, whose Newtown-based boutique recently celebrated its 10th year in business, says she wanted to attend ANZFW to see where such "great ideas, design and inspiration" originates from.

Stevanovic, who already stocks New Zealand labels Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Deborah Sweeney, Lonely Hearts Club, Kate Sylvester and jewellery brand Deadly Ponies - says she was impressed by the quality and level of creativity on display.

Having picked up Cybèle at the show, Stevanovic says there were a number of other labels she was impressed by - although she declined to name them.

"I think another couple of seasons of growth and I would be definitely looking at stocking them."

Cybèle also proved popular with Western Australia buyer Nanette Carnachan of Mid '70s Boutique.
Carnachan, who has attended ANZFW for each of its past five instalments, says around 60 per cent of the stock at her two Perth stores are from New Zealand.

She says New Zealand fashions are well received by consumers in her state as they fit into Western Australia's lifestyle and climatic conditions.

"I am looking at developing with a couple of new designers. I thought Sakaguchi's show stood out as did Cybèle, another new comer was the Jaeha label (picked up by Victorian store Blondies as a graduate appearing at ANZFW 2006), which had great potential."

Asian buyers too did their bit to support Kiwi fashion.

Damien Mah, who set up his store The Lawn in Singapore in 2006, was one of several buyers attending ANZFW for the first time in 2007.

Drawn to the event because of what he terms the "quality of the fabrics and finishing" in New Zealand fashion, Mah says he attended the event looking at getting "full collections with limited pieces for each style".

Mah, who also stocks Australian labels Milk and Honey, State of Georgia, Pani and Olive, says as well as re-ordering with Sweeney he also picked up Kate Sylvester.

"Deborah Sweeney and Kate Sylvester were awesome. [They were] really into their colours in an otherwise drab winter palette. I thought Huffer's youthful exuberance shone through this season too."  

Other designers to have attracted international interest included Hailwood, Jaeha and Alexandra Owen all of which were bought by H Lorenzo in Los Angeles, while Cybèle was taken on to be represented by H30 in Japan.

Jaeha-Alex Kim has seen a 60 per cent growth in sales from his previous season and along with being bought by Los Angeles store H Lorenzo, Jaeha now has 10 more stockists between New Zealand and Australia.

While no Australian-based labels opted to make an appearance on the catwalk at ANZFW 2007, several - including Nicholas X Morley and Brigid McLaughlin - paid to have a stand in the exhibition area of the event. For McLaughlin, at least, the gamble was a good one.

A first time exhibitor at the event, she says she attended ANZFW as a means of gauging how much potential there was for her label in the Kiwi market.

"I picked up several new accounts as a direct result of participation in fashion week with confirmed stockists including Repertoire in Tauranga, Polly Pratt in Auckland, Precioso in Wanganui, White by Design in Dunedin and Maggie Potter and BMS in Gisborne."

Despite her success, McLaughlin says she was concerned that a lot of the buyers were too busy "running around town" with offsite appointments between shows to visit the exhibition area. For this reason she says she would like to return to ANZFW but only if permitted to stage her own show.

However Morley argues it's the fact Australians don't tend to stage their own shows at ANZFW that gives it its point of difference.

"If you look at Fashion Week in London, it's not all English designers, it's designers from everywhere and it's the same in New York and Paris. At ANZFW it's all about New Zealanders. Wave the black flag."

By Tracey McEldowney