Last month saw the Council of Fashion Designers of America announce it was reviewing New York Fashion Week to consider changing it to a consumer-based model, and now Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia founder Simon Lock is calling on Australia to do the same.
Lock believes designers are missing out on major commercial benefits in its current format, with consumer-focused events the way of the future when it comes to fashion week.
“MBFWA should be the first fashion week in the world to make the complete change from a wholesale based event to a retail-available consumer-focused event. The event has always been an innovator and it should again lead the world," Lock told Ragtrader.
“For sometime now we have foreseen the catalytic change that social media has been having on fashion weeks around the world. Via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, consumers have had a front row seat to the best designer shows in the world, including Australian designers.
“This has created immediate demand for these designs which are not available in store for another six months. It was only a matter of time before designers realised this was a huge wasted commercial opportunity.”
While MBFWA is this year moving to May to align with the northern hemisphere's resort collection buying season, Lock believes the Australian fashion week should move to August to align with spring/summer collections hitting stores in September.
London Fashion Week is making similar movements, with the British Fashion Council committed to increasing consumer-focused events as part of the official schedule.
