Over the past few months, three major South African fashion events have been featured in local and national media: the MTN Durban Fashion Week, the Nokia Cape Town Fashion Week and the Sanlam SA Fashion Week. Now that the lights have dimmed on the catwalk, questions within and beyond the fashion industry revolve around what the economic returns of these productions will and should be, for the participant designers and for other key players in the value chain. What is there to show, beyond the showings?

There is strong argument emanating from established designers and fashion media analysts that the South African fashion sector needs a perspicacity injection, such that a strategic growth plan for a financially viable and sustainable industry balances the glamour co-efficient to which these operations are typically reduced. Such commentary suggests that a cumulative complacency among organisers and designers has narrowed the vision of the Fashion Weeks to the pursuit of visibility for its own sake being seen for and on the social pages rather than as a powerful brand manifestation leading to sales of units and an increasingly viable industry.

Certainly, fashion design and production cannot and should not attempt to downplay its inherent creative role in the infinite revolution and evolution of what is beautiful and stylish. However, this role requires a grasp of the subtleties of intention and execution that take this expressive aesthetic further afield than the pedestal of one-off haute couture, into wearable and affordable art-forms. While neither dismissing nor diminishing the achievements of some designers who have gained visibility for their labels and increased their revenue through showing their ranges at such fora, fashion events in South Africa are relatively immature as strategic marketing experiences in terms of their broader economic contribution. Research, both in the field and of related literature, shows that there are a multitude of business opportunities prior to, during and after the shows that remain unexplored, truncating the reach of these events and stunting the enormous potential of our local design community.

For example, neither local nor overseas buyers were present at the Durban Fashion Week in June, apparently because designers have in the past been unable to process orders of any notable volume. Focused interviews with designers corroborate this finding, and several research participants in a recent study indicated that they have learnt the hard way about the necessity for forward planning when signing up for Fashion Weeks. Having received orders for their designs modelled at the events, they find it difficult if not impossible to fulfil them due to lack of capacity, non-availability of the selected fabrics, or an inability to make the garments at the right price should production be outsourced to local manufacturers.

A fundamental challenge facing not only our designers but the clothing and textile sector as a whole, is that of realising the importance of the fashion designer in the value chain. South African designers, manufacturers and textile suppliers need to identify ways of working together to facilitate the production of ready-to-wear garments at reasonable cost, so promoting entry into the wider consumer markets, both in South Africa and overseas. Two rapidly emerging trends in terms of commercialising fashion design are Fashion Districts and Fashion Councils, both of which are geared towards proactive representation of and for the industry.

These are certainly welcome developments, as they would stimulate impetus for local talent and content, providing more resources to and opportunities for designers in gaining local and international exposure. Paradoxically, though, these initiatives could have a negative impact on the industry, if, as industrial incubators, they are poorly managed and maintained. Sound business principles need to underpin the fun and the funky if these schemes are to result in tangible, meaningful support for designers. One fear expressed in design circles is that the Districts and Councils will amount to little more than mini-fashion kingdoms for self-serving individuals - as seems to be the case in instances of Fashion Week owners publicly sparring for control over these showcase events.

At a time when the local clothing and textile sector and in turn, the wider South African economy - is seriously threatened by cheap overseas imports, mechanisms to reduce such bids for territorial influence and to create cohesion for sustainability should be the priority. Although there has been wide reportage of this contest for control over the fashion sector and of a call to establish a single, national Fashion Week, designers voices are seldom amplified beyond the inner-circle media, or as part of an ongoing and general discussion about fashion design as a crucial link in the clothing and textile value chain.

Most designers wish to see their work displayed on as many platforms as possible, but they would insist that fashion events organisers institute more focused measures for quality control in entry criteria, because Fashion Weeks reflect the status of our fashion industry. Designers are also sceptical of rhetoric that abounds within the fashion design sector around the need for concerted, proactive development, but with no indication of how such growth could and would be generated being in evidence. Nonetheless, the South African fashion sector, embedded as it is in the local clothing and textile industries, is highly vulnerable to the effects of globalisation, and designers themselves cannot afford to neglect or be marginalised in the work of policy development to stimulate their own industry.

Collective lobbying and networking among and for designers, as part of a united agency for progress, is essential. On a broader front, a national stakeholder forum should be convened without delay to coalesce representatives from clothing, textile and fashion sectors as well as government, the media, sponsors and community-based organisations.

Once all participants strengths, concerns, interests and leverage are pooled and a set of common objectives distilled, a workable strategy and structures for development can be drafted, consensus obtained and commitments for implementation secured.

About the author:

Renato Palmi has just completed a groundbreaking, innovative MA thesis on the fashion industry in South Africa from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He now wants to go onto a PhD and enter the industry utilizing both his business marketing and academic skills. PO Box 52006 Berea Road, 4007 Durban, South Africa. Email: yakshack@iafrica.com

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