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It is also imperative that fashion events are not convened merely for the sake of staging a
fashion show. It is important that any event promoting local content, which inherently
assists independent designers in establishing their names and businesses, is run effectively.
The business strategies and marketing plans underpinning all these events should
incorporate business skills training for designers, as in The Fashion Eye “Planning for the
Future” workshops that took place at the three 2006 Fashion Week events. Experts
specialising in different aspects of the clothing, textile and design give presentations to
these fora, and the workshops target both established and emerging designers as well as
students of fashion. During the 2006 Durban Fashion Week, approximately 100 people
registered for the talks, although only slightly more than 40 attended. The session
programmes should also include a module for consumer education about the importance
of supporting local content.
The Durban Fashion Week was implemented in 2005, with South African Airways sponsoring
the first event. According to details obtained from Durban Fashion Week management, 31
designers took part.
The 2006 Fashion Week was sponsored by MTN, and 73 South African designers
participated, with eight designers coming from Nigeria, Ghana, Burundi, Botswana,
Namibia and Tanzania. According to the organisers, just over 10 000 people visited the
Fashion Week. Fashion journalists from Paris, London and India attended, and a total of 17
designers exhibited in the Designer Exhibition Hall.
During the 2006 event, the researcher discovered that no buyers (representatives of retail
stores), either local or international, were present. In an interview with Ms. Amanda
Gowing, the editor of Glamour Magazine (Interview, 22/6/6b) replied to a question on this
point: “They (the buyers) didn’t want to come since the designers would not be able to
supply any large orders, due to their lack of capacity and problems with supplies of
textiles.” The respondent said that nonetheless, it was a “disgrace that there were no local
retail buyers representatives from the large South African retail outlets, or even from the
smaller boutiques, as this is an opportunity to see new designs and create business
opportunities with designers.”
The organisers of the Durban Fashion Week concurred with these views, saying that in 2005,
an international buyer from a large retail outlet attended the Durban Fashion Week with
an allocated budget and placed a large order with one designer who could not deliver
for lack of capacity and access to fabrics. Ms Gowing said that overseas retail buyers
consider visiting fashion events as part of their business. She confirmed that the lack of
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