(The
2017 DFF Rising Stars Winners from the DFF Mentorship Programme: Leona Pillay,
Athenkosi Mfungula & Claudia Novuka)
Are you an up and coming designer or
fashion house and looking to take your brand further?
With 2018 just around the corner, you may
be in need of gaining inspiration, guidance in the business of fashion, wanting
to know what it is that buyers are looking for or simply wanting to fine tune
your "fashionista" skills. If this is you, then the Durban Fashion
Fair wants to mentor you!
As part of the Fashion Development
Programme, eThekwini Municipality is once again opening its doors to all the
next "Fashion Designer Rising Stars" who reside within the greater
eThekwini Municipal area to attend a presentation on November 9, 2017.
To further grow the fashion sector in the
City, the Municipality will host a 10-month long Fashion Mentorship Programme
to capacitate fashion designers with skills in order for them to remain
competitive in the industry.
The Municipality initiated the programme to
equip and expose fashion designers to various business and fashion skills which
will enable them to be innovative and enhance their businesses. The programme
will also help facilitate market and networking opportunities leading to growth
and sustainability of the emerging fashion designers businesses.
Before they started their respective
journeys in the 2017 Mentorship programme, the three Rising Stars were asked
what they hoped to achieve from it:
According to Athenkosi Mfungula from
Lamontville, he wanted to gain more insight into costing and pricing of a
garment and improve in quality control of the garment construction and
understand themes and trends.
Claudia Novuka from Glenwood said that she
needed direction to fine-tune her vision for her brand as well as sharpen her
business skills according to this industry. She also wanted to know what retail
outlets look for in order for a designer to have their creations sold in
outlets.
Durban's Leona Pillay was eager to learn
more about fashion on a business level, but also wanted to be mentored by great
designers and learn to create structured designs with good quality, using
different methods.
Unanimously, not only did they each learn
what they had hoped for, but the programme has given them a platform which has
opened a number of "fashion doors" for them.
The eThekwini Municipality invites fashion
designers or fashion houses to be part of the 5th instalment for the 2018
Durban Fashion Fair Mentorship Programme.
The programme will focus on four pillars,
namely business development, participation in the Durban Fashion Fair,
participation in the Fashion Pavilion during the Durban Business Fair and
access to a wider market which will see designers have contact with
international markets.
A detailed presentation about the programme
will be held on November 9 between 09h00 and 11h00 at Hall 9A in the Botanic
Gardens Conference Centre, situated on John Zikhale Road in Berea.
The Business Support, Tourism and Markets
Unit programme manager, Sindi Shangase, who is spearheading the Durban Fashion
Fair, said the fashion sector continues to be one of the key drivers of rapid
economic growth linked to job creation.
"Due to technological advancement, the
fashion sector has also undergone significant changes and has become a fast
growing sector internationally," she said. Shangase added that the
mentorship programme will provide opportunities for designers to learn both
business and fashion trends which can open business opportunities for them.
For more information and enquiries
regarding the Fashion Mentorship Programme contact Nondumiso Mhlongo on 031
311 4578 or e-mail: Nondumiso.Mhlongo@durban.gov.za
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