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Fashion victim

By Paul Blomfield

Tuesday 1st October 2002

Text too small?
Kate Sylvester stands on a chair to thank guests at the opening of her Newmarket, Auckland, store. In the audience are celebrities, stylists, photographers, fashion designers, customers and a couple of British fashion editors. To the uninitiated, the opening might look like just another excuse for air kisses in the glorified world of fashion. In reality, it's one of several landmarks in the dramatic rise of New Zealand's designer fashion industry - in aesthetic and commercial terms.

Sylvester has founded one of New Zealand's most successful designer companies - her clothes also sell in the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Singapore. And she's no lone star. Along with the two fashion pioneers of the 1970s and 1980s, Marilyn Sainty of Scotties and Liz Findlay of Zambesi, the limelight is now shared by a growing list of accomplished designers, including Sylvester, Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and the World, Morrison Hotel, Moochi, Frost, Stella Gregg, Ricochet and Workshop labels.

"Creative industries: the designer fashion industry in New Zealand", a report released in August and researched and written by this reporter on behalf of Industry New Zealand, estimates the sector generates $165 million a year in wholesale sales, including $40 million in exports, mostly to Australia. And if October's L'Oréal Fashion Week - New Zealand's major fashion show, now in its second year and attracting 55 designers, 10 major sponsors and 13 minor ones - is anything to go by, there is good growth potential.

Moreover, the industry is young, with room for growth; 72% of companies are less than 12 years old and about 75% have sales of less than $2 million. Extrapolate the growth figures for the existing companies (always an optimistic exercise) and imagine a good number of these small players growing into commercial successes, and the sector could easily double export sales over the next decade. Several designers have expanded from their home city to open stores around the country, while a few - notably Trelise Cooper and Zambesi - have set up shop in Australia. Now Sylvester, Zambesi and others are also pushing into export markets other than Australia. "New York is a bit of a disaster; people are suffering in the designer end of the clothing trade there," says Neville Findlay, Liz's partner at Zambesi, referring to the abysmal performance of the luxury sector since the September 11 terrorist attacks. "But other markets are really blossoming - we're having a great time in Japan and certainly we're hoping this project of Charlotte Smith's will be successful." In September Charlotte Smith was to have opened a store to showcase New Zealand designers in London.

So the talent is there, the overseas recognition is growing, and sales are booming. But what may stymie expansion is something much more mundane - manufacturing infrastructure. For example, designers, most of whom don't have the resources to make their own clothes, must rely on contract manufacturers or outworkers, often working from home. But small operators, who may only want 50 garments, find themselves pushed to the back of the line by big manufacturers working flat out to fill seasonal orders from major labels. One designer tells of ringing a jeans manufacturer to check on an order due to be delivered to stores within two weeks, only to find the fabric hadn't even been ordered. "If those garments don't arrive on time, the retailers cancel the order and I lose that season's sales - and possibly the next season's as well," he says.

There's also a chronic shortage of skilled machinists. Many left the industry in the 1980s when the government slashed tariff protections for the clothing sector, prompting manufacturers to close their doors or move to Asia. Many of the current crop are recent immigrants but despite a glaring demand for skilled people, many find it difficult to gain residency status. Pattern-makers and production managers are also in short supply.

"I think the industry is poised to be very successful and globally well known. But the danger of that is, can we produce [the clothes]?" Trelise Cooper says. "We don't have a strong production structure. We aren't training young people and it's an ageing work force. As we increase our production every season, we face the same struggle: can we get it made?"

Textile supplier Jack Cooper, partner of Trelise Cooper, says the only training being done is for jobs that rarely exist. Educational institutions play on school-leavers' dreams of becoming the next Kate Sylvester and churn out students with loads of design theory but few production skills.

Ten polytechs and universities offer design studies, producing an estimated 200 designer/diploma graduates a year. In fact, Sylvester is one of a number of successful designers (Nicholas Blanchet, Natalija Kukija, Andrea Moore and Helen Cherry to name a few) who gained a Wellington Polytech Diploma in Fashion Technology in the 1980s and 1990s. All were graduates of a diploma course in technology rather than a degree in design.

It is the modern Bachelor of Fashion Design type of degree that gets the industry hot under the collar. "I think it's immoral the way we waste our youth, training them to do jobs that aren't there," says Jack Cooper. "People in the industry are looking for workers - makers and cutters and the like - and they can't get them. But [with clothing one of the few sectors retaining some degree of tariff protection] they're reluctant to say that to the government because it will say: 'Okay, there aren't any jobs to protect so we'll drop the [remaining] tariffs.'"

The current tariff on clothing imported into New Zealand is frozen at 19%. It's a level the industry fought hard to retain but which is currently under review, as New Zealand's responsibilities under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade require the industry (and the entire country, for that matter) be duty-free by 2008. Both the Minister for Industry and Economic Development, Jim Anderton, and the Minister of Commerce, Paul Swain, pledged there would be no reduction in duty until after a comprehensive industry review and the release of an industry strategic plan, but with a decision soon, many are holding their breath.

Another common industry complaint is that fashion graduates lack business skills. Hannah Power of fledgling company Peric Design says when she started out she was laughed at by banks and some retailers tried to take advantage of her inexperience. "We didn't realise how hard it would be to be young in this industry."

But should small business management be part of design degree training? Massey Fashion School head Sue McLaren says no. " It's a possible career path, but we don't think they're ready. You provide them with an education." She says it's only when students get out into the industry and start learning how to use that education that business know-how can happen.

"We provide them with an education to be part of a team, and an employee, as opposed to a sole trader. If they want to - and this is one of the advantages of being part of Massey - they can take a small business management paper. That's an elective choice."

In the end, does the success or otherwise of an industry that produces only a tiny proportion of New Zealand's exports matter? (Customs figures show exports from the whole textile and textile articles sector totalled $582 million in the year to June 2002, or 1.8% of total exports, and designer clothing makes up only a small percentage of that figure.) The government certainly thinks so. As it moves to brand New Zealand as a sophisticated, creative economy, it's using industries like wine, marine and now fashion to sell its story. Hence being prepared to spend $20,000 of taxpayers' money on the recent study and a database for the designer fashion industry.

Exporting designer clothes is a great way to brand New Zealand as a country capable of creating sophisticated products, says Industry New Zealand boss Neil Mackay. "Design can create a unique profile for New Zealand in the global economy. The important thing is not only to see the value of design as an industry in its own right, but to recognise how it can add value to all other sectors.

"Good design and creativity can turn commodities into high-value products; innovations into saleable products and services."

Certainly, New Zealand designers have built a reputation for individuality, thoughtfulness and attention to detail. Marcus von Ackerman of French Vogue once described New Zealand fashion as "less show-offy" and "more intellectual" than that of other countries. Our designers are said to have a good eye for detail and, according to Zambesi's Neville Findlay, benefit from being prepared to look outside themselves. "The more successful designers have wider interests in all manner of design, and they're interested in looking at the history of design and celebrating other people's design successes." On the other hand, individuality is essential because overseas buyers will immediately spot any plagiarism, he says.

The impact of the burgeoning fashion industry is being felt outside the sector, particularly in retail rental. Two-thirds of all designers own their own stores. "As a new emerging business, there's no way that any retailer would take a chance on you - financially they just say 'get real', so you have to do it yourself," says World's Francis Hooper. Trelise Cooper agrees. When she returned to fashion design after a decade away from the industry, she opened a store immediately. "The good thing about a store is that it's instant profiling, instant branding. And it's a place where people can see the whole collection."

The impact of designers doing well has been felt keenly in the spiritual home of Kiwi designer fashion, Auckland's High Street. "I think right now's the first time in some while that there isn't a vacancy in High Street, including at the lower end, which has always been the 'cold' end," says Simon Revell of Retail Solutions, involved in letting most stores in the High Street area. "The rents aren't far off Queen Street now."

But this could all be in jeopardy if the industry doesn't get its act together on infrastructure problems. The Industry New Zealand report recommends the creation of an industry organisation to promote networking and joint action on industry issues. It also suggests adding specialist fashion industry marketing, management and production mentors to the Industry New Zealand-funded Biz programme, working alongside or within the industry organisation. Biz programmes provide, among other things, seminars and workshops on business planning and other financial and management disciplines

Feedback from the industry highlighted training, start-up finance and mentoring as key needs, along with better information about potential suppliers and the supply process.

The report includes some suggested remedies to the production skills shortage, too, such as limiting the number of institutions offering fashion degrees and requiring that courses include more practical skills like pattern-making and machining. Allowing in more trained immigrants could also help the problem short term and, longer term, school-leavers could be encouraged to train and specialise in areas other than pure design. Exporters could get a leg-up from collective promotions of New Zealand designers, while those who have made it to the top could be rewarded for mentoring up-and-coming designers.

Whether the fashion industry will act on these recommendations remains to be seen.

The reaction from Industry New Zealand has been positive; training institutions such as Auckland University of Technology have increased Industry New Zealand involvement in curriculum development, and an industry representative association, Fashion Industry New Zealand, has just been incorporated. There is talk of cluster development and new skills training initiatives already being mapped out.

Meanwhile this month, just for a while, the attention is off the dreary detail and onto the glorious hype of the fashion industry as designers prepare for the second annual L'Oréal New Zealand Fashion week in Auckland from October 21-25. There are around 55 designers (up from 47 last year), many of whom stump up a minimum of $20,000 to produce off-site shows featuring their latest creations. They have been bartering and hustling for weeks to secure top venues and models.

They are also considering what excesses will get buyer and media attention. Last year, Fix's show began with a sheep being sheared and RJC's snow machine had the catwalk looking like Moscow and incredibly slippery. Trelise Cooper's fashion accessory du jour - doves - helped secure her a five-minute slot on the top-rating Holmes show.

But it's the export dollars that make the stakes really high. Australian department store David Jones, which sold only one Kiwi designer before last year's show, now sells five. And while only one UK buyer came over for the inaugural show, organisers are expecting seven this year.

The seeming hype of the fashion week has a serious underlying purpose, according to Sylvester. "Hype is a big part of what fashion is about. You can either slowly build your reputation and your market by the quality and integrity of your work, or you can come along with a big bang and make a big impact. A bit of rah-rah has its place, I think. It's an industry that suits a bit of shouting."


What's hot?

New Zealand's designer fashion industry has grown to be worth $165 million a year, including annual exports of $40 million

Experts say the industry's value could double in 10 years, with the right encouragement

What's not?

The industry suffers a skills shortage, meaning designers can struggle to get their creations made

Educational institutions are churning out too many wannabe designers and not enough machinists or pattern-makers

Design students lack business skills, leaving them vulnerable to business failure


Paul Blomfield is a fashion industry consultant and former publisher of clothing industry trade publication Apparel. He researched and wrote the Industry New Zealand report "Creative industries: The designer fashion industry in New Zealand", available at www.industrynz.govt.nz/about-us/publications/reports.asp

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