Fashion Week Announces Positive Economic Benefits

For immediate release

New Zealand Fashion Week Proves to Be a Fashionable Powerhouse with the Announcement of Positive Economic Benefits

As 2013 comes to an end, New Zealand Fashion Week (NZFW) can toast a very successful year, delivering outstanding commercial results for the fashion industry and the local economy.

With a familiar venue and a number of new initiatives, NZFW continues to develop and grow and remains an event that New Zealand embraces 13 years on.

Research undertaken by The Fresh Information Company reveals NZFW has exceeded expectation, contributing at least $1.2 million of immediate economic return to Auckland’s GDP and providing a 70% return on the investment by Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED) – which supports NZFW as part of its major events sponsorship.

This figure is an increase on the economic impact received by the region from NZFW in 2012. On top of the immediate financial benefits of room nights and total estimated spend by out of town visitors, there are also the important long-term economic benefits fashion designers derive from the national and international exposure the event provides.

The same report shows there were 28,270 attendees in 2013 and 1,180 unique visitors from outside Auckland including international visitors, 20% more than forecast.

Though the research doesn’t capture all of the long term economic benefits generated by New Zealand Fashion Week, designers interviewed post event reported that being involved in NZFW led to greater sales in the long term through increased brand awareness.

NZFW Managing Director Dame Pieter Stewart DNZM said the team is proud of a successful year and what they believe was an exciting and well-run 2013 event.

“NZFW is a huge event to run and is executed by a small, but passionate team – and the success is shown in the numbers. The economic impact figures show the event was a success locally, but as an event we must continue to deliver national and international exposure for our designers and once again we achieved that objective,” said Stewart.

This year New Zealand Fashion Week was excited to announce Fashion One’s attendance ensuring New Zealand designers who showed at NZFW were seen by a global audience of millions.

Fashion One, a cutting-edge, global lifestyle and entertainment TV channel broadcasting 24/7 in 156 countries, and with a reach of over 100 million world wide, proved an incredible opportunity to not only showcase New Zealand designers but also to profile Auckland as a tourism destination.

Having arrived on the back of attending two other international fashion events, in Bali and Melbourne, Producer Rebecca Piket was asked how New Zealand Fashion Week ranked amongst the many Fashion Weeks around the world she has attended. Picket said the event was “the best run and the most organized Fashion Week she had attended”, adding how easy the NZ team was to work with.

Clips from Fashion One’s coverage of New Zealand Fashion Week can be viewed on their YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/fashionone.

Other key international coverage includes features on Wardrobe Trends Fashion, Vice Magazine and Style Tips.com, blogs including Seen Heard Known, Electric Seeki and Cindiddy Blog, with features in other key international publications still to be published.

After 13 years, it is clear that NZFW is still an event that New Zealand is embracing. There were 40,000 unique views on the NZFW Official Blog, 660,000 unique views of NZFW Facebook page content during the event and 2.5 million unique Facebook views from May through September.

63 designers showed in 44 shows and presentations during the week and weekend, including 14 Kiwi designers from out of Auckland and nine international designers. The event was attended by almost 30,000 in total, 11,000 of these over Fashion Weekend.

The opening party also proved a must attend event, with the Rt Hon John Key officially opening NZFW 2013 in front of 750 guests.

NZFW developed and executed several innovations this year including Fashion @ First Sight. In what appeared to be a first for Fashion Weeks around the world, this initiative saw 20 to 25 catwalk shots uploaded immediately after every show allowing visitors to click straight through to the designers’ own online stores and view their current season.

The combined efforts of a record number of designers and NZFW’s most exciting line up, a big international contingent of media and buyers, exciting new initiatives and a well run event has set the scene for a successful 2014 event.

And with the key retail season upon us, NZFW has proven itself as an event that delivers genuine economic impact to the Auckland region and to talented fashion designers around New Zealand and beyond.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor:

Below are some direct links to some of the NZFW catwalk shows currently loaded on Fashion One’s You Tube Channel. All other shows are loaded on the site:

Fashion Week TRELISE COOPER BY TRELISE COOPER New Zealand Fashion Week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0l39R6qtcY

Fashion Week DIRTY MAGIC BY STOLEN GIRLFRIENDS CLUB New Zealand Fashion Week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8alLdxykQw

Fashion Week PIA BOUTIQUE New Zealand Fashion Week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AsJsVilqOo

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