The first Asia Fashion Summit: Putting the business back in local fashion

The fashion world's coming to Singapore in a big way this year, as the Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX) kicks off this month. Gone is the old standard of the Singapore Fashion Festival. Replacing it is a much bigger platform which consists of the Asia Fashion Summit (AFS), Blueprint trade show, Star Creation Designer Competition, and the return of the Audi Fashion Festival, which aims to be the 'must-go' fashion event for the region. 

While the annual designer competition and Audi Fashion Festival aren't new, the Asia Fashion Summit and Blueprint trade show are, and for the inaugural launch, the government is pulling out all the stops to bring in buyers, designers and retailers from all over. "Asia Fashion Exchange is a joint initiative by the government, enhanced with support by establishing pioneers of the fashion industry. Asia Fashion Summit, as part of this movement, will provide the fashion industry with a new dimension for growth and development, competitive strengths and profitability," says Benny Pua, President of Singapore's Textile & Fashion Federation (TaFf), who are the co-organizers of the event. 

Day One of AFS will be led by WGSN, a leading trend forecaster and fashion authority, who will host some of the most successful and influential Asian and Western fashion brands, retailers and designers for a three-day discussion forum, and will be chaired by Julie Harris, WGSN’s managing director for Asia Pacific. Confirmed speakers include Miles Grey, ex-CEO of Ben Sherman, Andrew Caughey, managing director of John Smedley, Alex Cara, franchise director of New Look, Martin Mason, CEO & managing director of Lulu Guinness and Tod Schulman, vice president of Fashion and Home of Pantone.

Julie Harris says: "WGSN is hosting the first day of the summit and when planning the agenda we set ourselves the aim of inviting business leaders and industry experts who were willing to discuss strategies openly, give great advice and honestly share the highs and lows of launching and managing global businesses. I have been to many conferences where speakers advertise their companies for 30 minutes -- that's not what we want, our aim is to inspire, excite and create a great forum for networking." 

The Summit wasn't all smooth sailing -- with the volcanic eruption in Iceland effectively crippling airports in Europe, there were obstacles in getting in the right speakers. "Despite volcanic dust somewhat getting in the way we have managed to get all our speakers on planes and all have been incredibly supportive," explains Harris, who feels that there is still a lot for the fashion world to discover about Singapore and the rest of Asia. "AFX will be a unique event in Asia with a trade show, catwalk shows, a high level business summit and consumer events happening simultaneously throughout the city. If Singapore can draw enough designers and brands from right across the region to show and participate this could develop into a one-stop shop for regional and international buyers."

For Singapore and AFX to arrive at that stage, there's still a lot of work to be done. "Historically Asia has been seen as the home of manufacturing rather than of leading edge design or product development -- the challenge is to change that perception, and that is certainly starting to shift," says Harris. One of the major strengths is that there is a massive talent pool in Asia and a huge amount of diversity across the region, but there's a real need to showcase that talent effectively. 

According to Harris, "buyers are extremely busy and have limited budgets which means they can’t realistically attend several shows per country per season. Trade organizations need to pull together to promote their local talent and to wise up to the needs of the buyers rather than their own agendas. She added that there also needs to be investment in helping talented young designers get started and promoting them overseas, otherwise the best designers will head to Europe and the United States. 

For more details on the Asia Fashion Exchange, Asia Fashion Summit and other events, click down to www.asiafashionexchange.com.sg and www.asiafashionsummit.com.