2007 Verge Breakthrough Designers Line Up

Media Release
25 July 2007

2007 Verge Breakthrough Designers Line Up Announced

Verge mentors six designers for their Air New Zealand Fashion Week debut in 2007

Two catwalk shows featuring six of the most exciting emerging designers in New Zealand will show under the Verge Breakthrough Designer mantle at Air New Zealand Fashion Week in September.

This year’s crop includes menswear from Dunedin and women’s collections from Christchurch to Wanganui and Auckland.

The designers were announced as part of the official designer launch for Air New Zealand Fashion Week on Tuesday 24 July, having spent most of the day at a special Boot Camp organised by Ian Webster and Neil Brabant of Verge, one of New Zealand’s leading designer fashion exporters.

This year’s Boot Camp featured an address by leading Australian export agent, Susie Sharrock who is responsible for designer fashion export orders from New Zealand to Australia of around $50 million each year.

Sharrock, who represents Verge told the new designers what it takes to cut it across the Tasman with other speakers giving advice on pricing, marketing and media training.

Over recent years, the Verge Breakthrough Designer shows have served as a launching pad for some of New Zealand’s most exciting emerging labels including Charmaine Love, Cybele, Helen Talbot, Firefly, Pearl, James & August, Keucke, Lonely Hearts Club, Widdess and Michael Pattison.

Ian Webster of Verge acknowledges this year’s designers have a hard act to follow but says there’s huge satisfaction in watching a fledgling designer take off.

“We get great feedback about the benefits of the Verge Breakthrough programme. Designers who see value in our mentoring are also willing to take advice from banks, agents and retailers and that makes them contenders for a viable and successful export business, which is the whole point of showing at Air New Zealand Fashion Week.”

A list of the Verge Breakthrough Designers follows.

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