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FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF MEDIARELATIONS@ASU.EDU From the Phoenix Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/09/29/hitting-the-catwalk-how-phoenixfashion-is-trying.html

Hitting the catwalk: How Phoenix fashion is trying to break into the big leagues  SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:

Sep 29, 2017, 12:00am MST

Flashing lights, runways, red carpets and people dressed head to toe in the sleekest, latest fashions are the norm in Los Angeles, Milan and Paris.

Phoenix is working to bring itself into that mix.

Local experts say a fashion industry is emerging in the Valley, growing and establishing its own identity as resources and success stories come to light.

JIM POULIN | PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL

Dennita Sewell, professor of practice and also

Phoenix Fashion Week — with events scheduled for Oct. 5-9 — leading the ASU fashion degree program and is the is heading into its ninth year and anticipates this year’s to be its fashion curator at the Phoenix Art Museum. biggest, with more than 5,000 attendees, according to the organization’s Executive Director Brian Hill. Its evolution is one of the factors driving the industry forward in the region.

“I think the evolution of fashion in Phoenix or Arizona in general has become more credible, (with) more success stories than 10 years ago because we started focusing on the business of fashion since day one,” he said. “We only wanted to work with brands that cared about being more than a hobby brand and wanted to learn about dollars and cents and wanted to learn how to manage a brand and offer something of high quality that people outside of their circle of influence would actually really want.”

Fashion Week isn’t a solo shot. The industry is getting support from public and private groups seeking to make the Valley more fashionable. Arizona State University debuted a fashion degree this fall. The Fashion and Business Resource Innovation Center — known as FABRIC — in Tempe has been supporting designers since opening in October 2016.

“I know the state has a lot of focus on tech and biotech right now, but fashion industries are a huge economic engine for cities because the supply chain to fuel them is long and wide,” said Sherri Barry, co-founder of FABRIC and owner of Arizona Fashion Source, a company that helps designers manufacture their pieces in small batches. “I think people would be shocked at the beautiful things that are being made here and the talent.”

If the Valley were able to crack into the market, it would be looking for a piece of an industry that measures its impact globally at $3 trillion, according to FashionUnited.com, and employs more than 100 million people.

Keeping a pipeline Phoenix has a fashion talent pipeline, but often it points away from Arizona.

“A lot of times, people don’t legitimize the fashion industry, but the truth is it’s one of the top industries in the world in terms of employment and opportunity and wealth,” said Katy Hansen, who leads fashion programs at the Art Institute of Phoenix.

The U.S. apparel market was valued at $359 billion in 2015, according to Statista.com, an online statistics portal. Data does not exist documenting the value of the Phoenix fashion industry, but Angela Johnson, co-founder of FABRIC and director of local fashion industry directory Label Horde, said she’s seen tremendous growth in the region’s industry during the past two decades.

Johnson, a designer, moved to Arizona about 17 years ago from Los Angeles. Resources for fashion designers in the state then were scarce, but fashion schools were popping up all over, according to Johnson. While teaching in many of the new programs, she noticed a problem.

“All these students were graduating and they were moving because they had no opportunities for fashion in Arizona except for retail,” Johnson said.

As a result, hundreds of talented fashion designers left the state because of the lack of resources available for emerging designers to get started, Johnson said.

Dennita Sewell, professor of practice leading the ASU fashion degree program that started this fall, said there have been many excellent designers who have gone through various Valley programs.

“A lot of those students were developing really good skills, but, to take it further they had to leave the state,” she said.

Evonne Bowling, founder of the fashion program at Mesa Community College, said the issue of finding employment in fashion locally isn’t limited to designers.

“We are a retailing market. We’re too close to L.A. and Dallas to be a market center,” she said. “That’s never going to happen.”

Hill said Fashion Week has worked to ensure the growth of the Valley’s industry, particularly the talent pipeline.

“Now we’re seeing people going through our boot camp that are sustainable brands inside and outside of this market now,” he said. “They’re growing, hiring full-time staff, themselves quitting their day jobs, all those things are happening.”

Disrupting the industry While Phoenix doesn’t have that market hub capability of cities such as Los Angeles or New York when it comes to fashion, the industry is undergoing disruption from technology, Bowling said.

“It gives everybody a chance to be the designer of their own line because they can sell online,” she said.

Phoenix’s disruptive capability isn’t limited to technology. Barry and Johnson said the region’s geographic resources and labor laws give it potential to become an apparel manufacturing hub.

“It’s such a vertical business,” Johnson said. “There’s cotton fields here, and we could have the fibers actually grown in Arizona and the textiles used locally here.”

The women said they believe demand for locally sourced clothing is growing regionally and nationally. Despite the upheaval in traditional store-front retail models, Barry said people are buying more clothes than ever.

“I think there’s a lot more conscientious consumers, and they’re looking for responsibly manufactured garments that are made in countries that have fair labor laws,” Barry said. “They’re looking for those garments to be made in sustainable materials, and they’re also looking for innovative, creative designs that are lost in the mass merchandise world right now.”

Finding a niche The fashion industry is not limited to just designers. The term is used to include photographers, videographers, pattern makers, hair and makeup artists, retailers and anyone associated with the process of getting garments and accessories to the market.

Barry said because of the occupational diversity within the industry, there are high-skill and low-skill opportunities for employment.

“Everyone has a shot in Arizona, in Phoenix in particular,” Hill said. “The cost of living is very low and you don’t get locked out of anything, any industry here.”

The city of Tempe has a partnership with FABRIC, and the collaboration acknowledges fashion and retail contribute to economic development in the city.

“We feel that this one industry that’s definitely going to be on the rise and something to look out for,” said Donna Kennedy, Tempe’s economic development director.

No recognition While many are optimistic about Phoenix’s future in the fashion realm, the city still is unknown as a fashion hub.

The U.S. Fashion Industry Association declined to comment on the future of the industry in Phoenix, saying they weren’t familiar enough with the sector here.

Marshal Cohen, a retail industry analyst with New York-based NPD Group, which gathers data on markets, said he didn’t feel equipped to give any comments on what’s happening in Phoenix.

To make a dent in the national, let alone international, market, Johnson said jobs, resources and education will help Phoenix figure its place in the industry.

Her fashion incubator is a full-service resource for emerging fashion leaders, featuring pattern making and design services, photographers, videographers, fabric sourcing, manufacturing, event space, co-working space, and learning opportunities.

Barry and Johnson said the center is what fashion industry talent and the city needs.

“There is an industry here and it’s growing and there’s huge opportunity economically,” Barry said.

“Support local, there’s just great talent.”

Hill echoes those thoughts, saying the region offers everything the industry needs to succeed.

“Everyone has a shot in Arizona, in Phoenix in particular and small business being such a high on the totem pole for the city of Phoenix as well as for the state of Arizona, it makes it a lot easier to run a small business here,” he said.  Saundra Wilson Editorial Intern

Phoenix Business Journal