[Events] Fashion Exchange +27 - on the Runway

Taking to the Runway, Cape Town, today, 29 May 2008, is the inaugural Fashion Exchange +27 - brainchild of Gavin Rajah and Tziona Aronson.

In his brief welcoming message, Rajah said that with this annual event, he hopes to create a platform for the industry to come together and interact freely with eachother, exchange ideas, and not be afraid share stories of success and failure and learn from it all.

Rajah believes there’s a common misconception of the word “design”. It’s a blueprint – a translation of an idea and has the ability to spark further ideas. People often overlook the importance of the process and idea of design; it’s not just skin deep, design is not just restricted to how a product looks.

Some of the questions to be explored today are: Is a product wanted? How good is the product you’ve created and is it in demand, nationally as well as globally?

Rajah says design = intellectual capital = value; and it’s no longer just about competing in the game. Markets are constantly shifting, in imperceptable degrees, until one day you’ll find you no longer understand your market. How do brands keep up?

Another topic under debate is how to create sustainable design? How do we design for the people, while maintaining profits and still watch out for the environment? How do we design around these factors and still maintain sustainability?

Rajah hopes that through the Exchange, industry players will be able to arm themselves with the right amount of knowledge and apply this to business.