Contact us at apparelsingapore@taff.org.sg if you need assistance on the above programmes ______________________________________________________________________________   SINGAPORE FASHION RULES! THE BRANDING CAMPAIGN This year in conjunction with Singapore Fashion Festival 2008, consumers once again saw the latest exciting collections and special promotions from Singapore fashion designers and labels beyond the 4 labels featured in the show. Singapore Fashion Rules! launched in 2007 - a branding campaign to raise the profile of Singapore designers and labels, made its show debut at Singapore Fashion Festival. With a roaring start of 5 labels presentation - éWomb, Individual Expression, nèss, nicholas, and Tian, 18 other home-grown designers and labels came together and made a distinctly bold statement at the grand finale in celebration of Singapore fashion. Exclusive collections from the show presentation were made available to the consumers with a special tie-up with Isetan Orchard. TaFf had also launched the branding campaign with 38,000 specially designed hangtags to be tagged onto the Singapore designers and labels merchandises on sale at Isetan Orchard, Takashimaya, Tangs Orchard and participating labels’ outlets. Photo gallery (2007) Photo gallery (2008) __________________________________________________________________________   LOCAL ENTERPRISE AND ASSOCIATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (LEAD) The Local Enterprise and Association Development Programme (LEAD) is a multi-agency effort by the government to enhance industry and enterprise competitiveness. Launched in May 2005, LEAD programmes support associations to take the lead in developing and driving initiatives to improve the competitiveness of their industries and their enterprises. TaFf is among the 6 industry associations awarded the LEAD support to develop and drive initiatives to improve the overall competitiveness of the enterprises in the Textile and Apparel industry. TaFf’s awarded LEAD support focuses on two key initiatives to further strengthen the industry with the aim to make Singapore the international business hub for apparel and fashion in South and South East Asia The key initiatives are: Product and Design Development Centre (PDDC) · Improve work processes and enhance production efficiency by training a group of industrial engineering experts and provide consultancy services to manufacturers · Develop the industry’s design capabilities for players to move up the value chain to offer design and product development to buyers · Develop the industry technologies / capabilities through the use of virtual fitting software to shorten lead time. Read more at http://www.taftc.org/tafdc · Virtual Garment Centre (V.Gc) championing the cause of 3D/Virutal technology through CAD. The main objective of V.Gc is to provide a one-stop virtual centre that promotes and encourages mass adoption of 3D technology in product development for the apparel industry which will result in lead-time reduction through processing re-engineering in product development workflow. To facilitate the objective, V.Cc will work with TaF.tc to provide trainings so as to flood the market with the new breed of Vdesigners who can develop from design concepts to 2D boards and 3D garments. By hosting a large libraries of colours, fabrics, accessories, trims, patterns and avatars combined with the above services, V.Gc aims to be the global leader in the promotion of 3D technology to create designs, speed up product development and create virtual garments. Read more at http://www.taftc.org/vgc/docs/aboutus.htm Singapore Fashion Week (SFW) · To achieve TaFf’s objective for Singapore to be the international business hub for fashion and apparel in South and South-East Asia, SFW is promoted and profiled as one of the leading trade event for the fashion and apparel industry · TaFf aims to attract international buying houses and retailers to use SFW as an interactive platform to source for apparel suppliers, designers and brands from Singapore and the region · The main events under SFW included the trade show titled THE DESIGNERS SHOW (TDS), Singapore Fashion Designers Contest(SFDC), Asian Young Fashion Designers Contest (AYFDC), The Graduate Showcase, Inspirasian the gala event featuring Asian top designers and others More information on http://www.singaporefashionweek.com.sg Contact us at admin@taff.org.sg if you need assistance on the above programmes __________________________________________________________________________   INDUSTRY SURVEY The objective of this survey is to collect a set of representative data to demonstrate that despite the domestic export of our textile and apparel has been declining over the years, the contribution of the industry to the economy remains optimistic due to the amount of business done through Singapore by the offshore factories that are owned by Singapore companies. The data would also demonstrate the multiplier impact of the industry to other supporting industry such as banking and logistics. __________________________________________________________________________   SINGAPORE FASHION FUND An initiative by TaFf to help build the next generation of fashion talents, by nurturing and grooming young residents who have the creativity, drive and passion, to propel Singapore towards becoming a leading centre of excellence in fashion design in Asia as well as for its supporting industries. Among other assistance programmes, the funds supports internship and mentorships programmes for young designers talents and to provide them with international experience and exposure to groom them into successful designers. Read about Pricilla Tan’s internship programme with TOPSHOP London and Chia Wei Chong’s internship with New York-based designer Vivienne Tham and London-based designer Alexander McQueen. Funds are raised through the sales of dinner shows tickets, donations, fund raising parties and activities. Fund raising event: Fashion Fun(d) parties To make a donation or to find out more about the Fund, please contact Sherrine Goh at sherrinegoh@taff.org.sg __________________________________________________________________________   ACCESS USA The ACCESS USA programmes was launched in 2005 as a means for Singapore designers and labels to gain entry and succeed in the tough USA market by providing the designers with logistic, administrative and creative support with a full time office in New York to manage the designers’ businesses in the USA. The designers are selected through their participation in THE DESIGNERS SHOW (TDS) – a trade event under Singapore Fashion Week. Through the participation in TDS 2005, Allure, Daniel Yam and WOMB from Singapore were selected for the pilot project with the help of a US consultant. In 2006, the programme was expanded to encompass foreign labels participating in TDS. Thus designer Khoon Hooi from Malaysia, together with Celia Loe and Tian from Singapore were selected and have since found representations for them in the US market. Photo Gallery 2 other Singapore labels, namely Nicholas and Burgundy have been selected during TDS 2007 and the Federation together with the US consultant will work with these 2 labels closely to launch their collections into the USA market in the near future view nicholas' collection view Burgundy's collection Going forward, other ACCESS Programmes for Europe, Korea, Taiwan and other markets would be introduced to open new markets for Singapore and regional designers and labels and this will be in line with the objective of TaFf to groom more designers and labels into successful international brands, and with the strong support from the government’s industry development programmes. Contact Sherrine Goh at sherrinegoh@taff.org.sg to find out how you can be part of this programmes