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Fashion Week organisers take cue from Hong Kong
The first world-class Thai fashion event, Bangkok Fashion 2005, will adapt key management and organisational strategies from Hong Kong Fashion Week.
AV Projects, one among 11 contractors under the government's Bangkok Fashion City project, is putting the finishing touches on the show, which will be staged from Aug 17-21 and feature a world-class trade fair and catwalk.
AV Projects received 321 million baht from the government to organise two Bangkok Fashion Week events. The second show is to be held next March 15-19.
President Ponlawat Sookcharus said the company had observed details of how the Hong Kong Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2006 show earlier this month was organised, including budget allocation, booth management, the setup of venues, registration and security management.
``We have to accept that Hong Kong Fashion Week is very attractive to businessmen in the fashion field around the world, so we needed to learn why it has always caught the attention of these people,'' said Mr Ponlawat.
According to Andrew Leung, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Chinese government has granted HK$1.4 billion or 7.7 billion baht for the promotion of the fashion industry in Hong Kong, and the territory now has become a fashion hub for Asia, profiting by the export of $25 billion worth of clothing and accessories last year.
In the first five months of this year, Hong Kong's clothing and apparel exports grew 12% from the same period in 2004, and this growth seems set to continue.
Mr Ponlawat said, however, that the concept of Bangkok Fashion Week 2005 was different from that of Hong Kong, so Hong Kong Fashion Week was just a case study, not the sole model for what he said would be the world-class fashion trade fair in Thailand.
Hong Kong Fashion Week is a mass-market trade fair covering producers ranging from makers of street wear to world-class boutiques and from mid-priced to ultra-deluxe goods, and catering to any manufacturers.
By contrast, Bangkok Fashion Week specifically targets the local, high-end brands and design-oriented products. Mr Ponlawat explained, ``Our purpose is to build Thai brands in international fashion markets.''
He noted that unlike Hong Kong Fashion Week, the Bangkok show would not allot commercial booths to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), that is, companies that produce goods under well-known international brands. The Bangkok event instead will focus on original brand manufacturers that have developed their own designs.
Local OEMs and mid-priced fashions, however, would be expected to participate in Bangkok Fashion Week in the future, when the programme becomes well-known among international buyers and media, he said.
Anna Limpichart, AV Projects' managing director, added the firm has hired Showroom Romeo, a French fashion marketing agency, to select international buyers to take part in the Bangkok event. Around 80% of these buyers are from Southeast Asian countries.
``We're inviting only the `cream of the crop' buyers, who prefer to buy design-oriented fashion products,'' she said. ``So far, 50 prospective buyers from multi-brand stores and department stores have accepted our invitation.''
Ms Anna said the Bangkok show was smaller than Hong Kong Fashion Week because it was a trade fair. As well, the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, the venue of the event, has only about 4,000 square metres available.
She expects that 10,000 people will view the catwalk shows during the five-day event, and more will visit the trade fair.
Bangkok Post 18 July 2005 www.bangkokpost.com
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