After a decade of hosting San Fernando Fashion Week, founder Deron Attz has seen the event evolve to the point where he is ready to expand to regional audiences. Over the years, many top local and international designers have showcased their pieces on the SFFW runway.
On May 31, the Palms Club in San Fernando will be the venue for this year’s San Fernando Fashion Week runway show and the T&T Guardian sat with Attz to speak about his accomplishments in the last decade and to gain some insight into the future of the highly acclaimed event.
Who is Deron Attzs?
I am a simple, humble down to earth person. I am just someone who is here to contribute to the fashion industry to share my creative experiences and use them as a platform to inspire and develop.
What inspired you to start SFFW?
I went to New York Fashion Week ten years ago and I was so impressed with how it brought the city together in terms of creativity and pride. As a San Fernandian, I decided to use it as a model for the local industry.
How has SFFW changed your life?
This is my passion, but at the time when I started SFFW, I was not looking at becoming a full-fledged fashion designer, but that is what it grew into and I have gained a lot of respect through the Fashion Week.
Who are some of the designers who have been featured in SFFW?
I can’t remember all the names, but I can recall the countries. We have had designers from France, Barbados, Jamaica, St Kitts, St Vincent, St Lucia, Bahamas, Guyana, Venezuela and of course from T&T.
What has been your biggest challenge in the fashion industry?
When we first started up people did not understand the difference between a fashion show and fashion week.
One is for entertainment and the other is for business. Also a lot of designers needed to understand how business was done, they needed management skills to be successful in the fashion industry.
Also funding was a big issue, we needed to stop the free shows. People did not understand that government cannot just support these events completely, there is a need for designers to have their own funds as well.
And whenever we applied for grants, we would get like half or less of the money we applied for, which honestly taught us to be self sufficient, we were able to survive on whatever we got.
How much influence does a showing on SFFW have on the success of designers?
That is something I have tested that over the years an I can tell you it brings in instant business. I could tell you of a designer who had never shown before and we took them and taught them how to design a collection, to put it together and eight weeks after appearing on the runway that designer took home $72,000 from their line. That is the kind of influence SFFW has.
Who is expected to show on Sunday?
Sunday is the final showcase of SFFW and we are having New York designer Samantha Samuel, who is wildly popular, along with designers from Guyana, Barbados, St Kitts, Bahamas and T&T.
What avenues do designers have to make a profit after the show?
SFFW is the management body for designers, we manage them in terms of getting work for them and make them even more ready for business.
What is next for SFFW?
We are opening a showroom in June. It is catered for designers, who are ready to do business but cannot afford a place of their own. We decided to launch the showroom because we recognised there is a huge appetite for local designer work.
People are looking for their own sense of identity and embracing local designs. We are also looking to expand the Fashion Week and host it outside of T&T, most likely in Barbados.