Designers turn to virtual showrooms to survive

Australian designers have been handed an opportunity by peak industry body the Australian Fashion Council and a company set up by Australian Fashion Week founder, Simon Lock.

The Aje Resort 20 'Bloomscape' Collection Show the opening show for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australiain 2019. Picture: Damian Shaw

With global fashion weeks and events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has been left to find new ways to operate within the health restrictions — and survive the economic downturn that has come with it.

The annual Australian Fashion Week, set for May, was cancelled just over a month ago by its US parent company IMG.

In a unique turn of events, Australian designers have been handed an opportunity by peak industry body the Australian Fashion Council and a company set up by Australian Fashion Week founder, Simon Lock.

AFC Virtual X Ordre will offer a business-to-business solution for designers who wish to sell their Resort collections to global retailers.

Lock launched Ordre in 2015 as an invitation-only virtual showroom for designers to show their upcoming collections to buyers unable or disinclined to travel to fashion weeks and events.

“Having developed all this technology, we are in a position to help,” Lock tells The Australian.

Ordre uses its own 360-degree photography to show clothing to buyers from every angle, and brands can include video walk-throughs and presentations and other collateral.

For this project, Ordre is setting up a quarantine studio in Sydney under strict COVID-19 protocols. Designers can shoot their collections with the 360-degree technology or submit their own videos and imagery.

“This is a time to be inventive,” Lock says. “Everyone has got their own cameras and laptops and is capable of doing videos. Get in front of your laptop and tell the world how good your collection is. Let’s use all the digital tools we all have available to us to give buyers the best insight you can into your collection.”

The Australian entrepreneur is keen for this project to be available to as many homegrown designers as possible, and both Ordre and the AFC are underwriting the bulk of the costs. It will cost just $1000 to take part, and Ordre is waiving any sales commissions.

Lock says that while the consensus among many of the larger retailers is that orders will be down by 50-70 per cent for the Resort season, and existing stock will continue to be discounted, there is an opportunity for Australian designers.

Resort collections arrive in stores around October and November, a time when hopefully people are ready to start buying again.

Leila Naja Hibri, chief executive of the AFC, says the industry body has just one focus at this time. “Our absolute focus is to ensure that our industry survives this crisis, and then we recover in a way that helps the industry move into a better place in the future,” Naja Hibri tells The Australian.

“We have to be more comfortable with technology in our industry. It’s not a replacement for face-to-face relationship building, but it’s there for the crisis that exists right now.’’

Tessa Macgraw, co-founder of the label Macgraw with her sister Beth, had been considering a show for Fashion Week this year, and will consider a digital platform such as this. “It’s something we’re definitely open to,” says Macgraw. “The world has changed.”