The Eastern Front

It celebrated its 20th year in business but did the 2007 Singapore Fashion Week meet the demands of international buyers and media? Assia Benmedjdoub offers her perspective. God bless America.

That was what many Australian delegates attending Singapore Fashion Week (SFW) were left thinking after enduring a 10-day barrage of back-to-back parades, seasonal showings and off-site events. For many of us, who had become accustomed to tightly-edited runway schedules, it was the uncle and aunty sam's who provided the more amusing moments of our 13 hour days. 

It was on day four of SFW when we caught our first glimpse of all-American humour. A group of local and foreign representatives - including journalists and buyers from Australia, the UK, Japan, Thailand and America - had gathered at a local shopping centre to witness the Asian Young Fashion Designers Contest. We had been at that same venue just a day earlier, watching many of the same entrants competing for top honours in the Singapore Fashion Designers Contest.

As the presenter mounted the stage to announce the winner, a journalist to my left, New York consultant and Tobe Report journalist Carolyn Moss, whispered dryly, "it better not be the same guy who won the other award - I don't get why he won it in the first place." Sure enough, the honours went to the same guy who won the other award.

Moss, mortified beyond belief, wasted no time - with her eyes goggled and hands firmly clasped around her cheeks, she drawled very, very, loudly "Oohhhhhhh mooooi gaaaaaaawwwwd, what are these people thinking?!"

This 'Manhattan moment'still manages to draw a smirk among those who were present at the awards - it was, after all, one of the few flashes of on-schedule humour. For the most part, the week, which stretched from October 12 to 21, was strictly business.

Within hours of my landing, the minister for trade and industry Lim Hng Kiang had taken centre stage at SFW's gala dinner and announced bold plans for building Singapore's TCF sector. As the newest member of the Asian Fashion Federation - an industry group linking countries such as China, Japan and Korea - Singapore would use its position to encourage the "cross-fertilisation of ideas" and to "boost synergy between fashion retailers, brands and labels" within the region.

"It is important that collaboration transcends borders and cultures," Kiang declared. "To further strengthen Singapore's position as a regional fashion hub, we need to tune into regional and international trends."

Kiang admitted Singapore's fashion industry was relatively small in comparison to the wider Asia region, accounting for approximately 3000 manufacturing and retail establishments hiring 19,000 workers and generating a combined value of $590 million.

However, Kiang also said its value chain players were now rising to meet the demands of a rapidly changing sourcing environment. He said many local apparel manufacturers had already moved beyond traditional 'cut, sew and pack' packages and were introducing value-add services such as product development and managing inventory for buyers.

"At a time when international buying houses are consolidating their vendor base, such initiatives enhance the industry's competitiveness by cutting the lead time from design sketches to the retail store," Kiang said. "We should continue in this direction of integrating the value chain to provide our customers complete solutions to their needs."

So where does the country's biannual fashion week fit into Kiang's global scheme and does it really provide a successful platform for emerging Asian designers and labels? SFW managing event director Joanna Fong believes it does, arguing that in the past few years it has helped many designers to open up new export markets in the US, Europe, Taiwan, Japan and other regional markets such as Thailand and the Philippines. Hurdles, however, abound.

"Managing the cost of staging an event like this is always a huge challenge," she admitted." And how we constantly need to improve ourselves so we can provide the best platform for the designers and buyers to meet. Because of various expectations and wishes, this is not always easy."

You can say that again, says Liquid Clothing director Lino Donati. Donati, who owns a string of directional boutiques in Melbourne, said while he was generally impressed with the designers on show - Khoon Hooi, Gallo, Harry Hallim, and Nicholas being among them -  the pricing and fit of certain garments was not always up to scratch. There was no incentive to buy when you could get the same prices in Australia, he shrugged.

"Because you pay for fares, accommodation and expenses when you go overseas to buy clothes, you have to make more of a margin. There's also more of a risk factor with the fits and the quality of workmanship. If they're over in Singapore, where would you get backup help? What if you have a problem with fit or if garments come apart? If we could make a margin of 150 per cent instead of 100, that extra margin would take in that risk." 

Donati said what did make the event worthwhile was the opportunity to source products not currently available in major department stores such as David Jones and Myer. Still in discussions with Nicholas and Khoon Hooi at the time of press, Donati confirmed he had placed a $A6000 order with Gallo.

But it seems Donati, and visiting buyers in general, were not the only delegates grappling with the issue of pricing. Designer Khoon Hooi said although he had exhibited at the industry event for three years, the end did not always justify the mean.

"It costs $A11,600 to show. It's too much because the orders received don't justify or cover what we've spent and that does not include our travel and lodging cost. We're still in the midst of negotiations with many buyers."

Adrenalin directors Dean and Katrina McCauley, who own two Queensland-based boutiques, said although they were keen to support designers such as Hooi, they  were puzzled as to how prices would work in their stores after freight, duty and tax.

"We feel that the designers should have been better prepared with their ranges and final prices so the buyer was given all the information up front when seeing the collections. A lot of the labels were [also] showing trends that we have already seen or have already retailed in our stores."

Fong admitted this was an ongoing problem and said organisers were working on pricing, sizing and clothing standards for future SFW instalments.

"I believe sizing and pricing will always be a concern when designers start selling to a new market. We are working with consultants in different markets to help designers to prepare them to overcome these initial problems. These problems are something designers can overcome quickly with the help of consultants and when they come into contact with the buyers we bring in for the event. "

Fong said she was optimistic about growing the profile of Singaporean designers throughout Australasia.
"My goals would be to help more designers to open up export markets and hopefully, to have more our participating designers selling in Australia. Challenges are good, it makes it exciting for us."

Assia Benmedjdoub