Having Attended Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics in China last month with a selected panel of international delegates. The TCF panel, lead by Carol Hanlon of TCF Australia, was a delegation of mixed industry professionals and designers that were able to discuss and talk about creative trends, next season forecasts, and plenty of design options. There were over 4600 global exhibitors at the event, with thousands of visitors, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to share my thoughts and design experiences as part of the Panel. I spoke briefly about my background in fashion, design, economics and trade.
Fashion is the most immediate and intimate form of self-expression, What we wear tells a story of who we are, and I went on to explain the changes from Victorian era to my favorite 1970’s Vintage designs. Designs continually evolving, No More Laundry Collections, and Classic timeless pieces. I talked about some recent trends from New York and Paris Fashion weeks, as well as the growth and return of consumers to natural fibers. I decided to sum up and conclude with a topic about economic sustainability. To my surprise during question time, and after the presentation, this topic received quite some interest from young designer wanting to know how id survived such a tough industry for so long. I simply explained that each designer needs to find and carefully maintain the balance between creativity and commerce. Passion and skills can only get you halfway, there is always a fine balance that defines and determines the success of a business, being adaptive and resourceful are the others.
Overall it was quite an experience, and made me rethink about the current direction of the brand in general and the website entirely. So stay tuned as I plan something adaptive for next year, I’d like to leave you with some of the images I used during the presentation.