The Australian Fashion Council has reported a boom in buyer interest for the ten designers it sent over to Hong Kong this year for Centrestage, Asia’s biggest fashion trade event.
The initiative was backed by the Australian government this year to help drive commercial deals for local designers globally, and is the second year in a row that the AFC has sent designers over to the Asian trade event.
AFC general manager Sam Delgos says the buyer interest this year is triple that of its 2025 run, driven by an increase in designers featured – up from seven last year – and growing demand for Australian fashion across Asia.
“We've had over 180 appointments with buyers and counting,” Delgos says, adding particularly strong interest from buyers in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and even the United Kingdom.
The ten designer brands showcased their core designs at a pavilion space at the trade event, with the space itself bigger than last year. The designers included Gary Bigeni, Buluuy Mirrii, Van Brussel, Asiyam, Briar Will, MOS the Label, Niamh Galea, Permanent Vacation, Viceta Wang and West 14th.
Delgos says the trial last year identified that the Asian market is a strong opportunity for Australian designers to enter. Part of this was driven by the unpredictable tariffs being ordered by US president Donald Trump, forcing many Australian brands to diversify their international strategies.
Even some international designer labels in Europe and Canada have been shifting focus away from the US, with Asia being a growing opportunity. Devlyn van Loon, who runs her eponymous label in Canada, already sells in Asia through a local retailer, and is reporting growing interest from Korea and Japan.
"Most of our market share was the US but it has shifted since the tariff situation," van Loon says. "It's so uncertain, even with apparel, as buyers place orders six months ahead of time before it ships. It's hard to predict with the current situation what the tariffs are going to be, if they're going to increase, if they're going to get rid of them or what. So there's more stability to seek other markets."
Italian handbag designer Francesco Parmeggiani, of his brand Parmeggiani, says this situation is felt even in Europe, as inflation takes its toll and consumers split to either fast fashion or luxury labels.
"We make an exclusive product because we are specialising in crocodile and exotic leather from Australia, the US and Africa," Parmeggiani says. "We are in the medium price range, but it's getting harder to secure stockists.
"It's difficult, but we have to find a way."
According to AFC executive chair Marianne Perkovic, the Australian government had identified that Australian fashion would be most at risk with increased tariffs – now sitting at 12.5 per cent – driving them to invest in this program. Fashion exports from Australia are valued at over $7 billion per year, which is nearly triple the value of wine exports.
Perkovic says many Australian fashion brands have tended to venture first into the United States when scaling outside of Australia for the first time, with both markets holding similar aesthetics and styles. Australian luxury label Zimmermann targeted the US first when venturing globally, with Aje going to North America through the likes of Saks and Nordstrom following an initial overseas push into New Zealand.
Research firms claim the Asia-Pacific fashion market is valued at over $700 billion, with the APAC making up around 40 per cent of the total global fashion market size. Hong Kong Trade Development Council – the organisers of Centrestage – believe the APAC fashion market will grow at a CAGR of just over 3 per cent through to 2029.
Following this trip to Hong Kong, the AFC will send a fresh cohort of designers to Paris to tap Europe, with the Council eyeing Dubai and the Middle East as a possible venture next year.
“The idea is to support brands to enter a variety of different markets, so they're not just reliant on one for their business and really start diversifying,” Delgos says.
Speaking on last year’s run at Centrestage, Perkovic says some of the wins weren’t even new stockist deals, with Sydney fashion label Monika Branagan scoring a pop-up space at a major Japanese department store. She says this in particular gave them the confidence to return to Centrestage this year.
Perkovic says Viceta Wang this year saw some particularly keen interest from a Hong Kong department store, with management there hosting the designer at their store, and visiting her again the next day.
“Centrestage is also a gateway to China, particularly Shanghai,” Perkovic says. “We've had a number of buyers come from Shanghai. And today, I was requested to have a meeting with a gentleman from Malaysia who runs a big department store there and wanted to actually bring the cohort that we brought here to have a pop-up store there.”
The ten designers brought over by the AFC were chosen through an application process. More than 50 designers had applied. Perkovic says those chosen had to prove they have the capacity to fulfil buyer deals.
“It's very specific conversations that you need to have [with buyers], and you need to answer things very succinctly and very quickly. There's no umming and ahhing when you're in front of a buyer, because they're really thinking about exactly what the quantity is, what the quality is, and what the opportunity is.”
Later this month, a new cohort of Aussie designers will feature at a showroom in Paris during Paris Fashion Week.