This December will be very eventful for the home grown fashion designers and entrepreneurs who will be taking part in the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority Fashion Festival.
The Festival will feature a gathering of cultural and creative intellect, a fusion of indigenous cultures, traditions and modernization.
In an emotional address, Founder and Chairperson of the PNGFDW Mrs. Janet Sios stated that they have gone through to a lot of changes since they first stated in 2016 and seeing the support this week at the launch was a dream come true.
“Thank you so much to all the sponsors’ representatives that are here. I am actually a little bit emotional because we’ve been doing this for 7 years. We started at The Stanley Hotel with 7 designers and an unknown industry, we’ve gone through a lot,” Sios stated.
She said this year the PNG TPA Fashion Festival will be working closely with creators and entrepreneurs to develop and grow the clothing and apparel sector to empower creative MSME’s to flourish in business. This will all culminate on the 3rd of next month with the National Gaming Control Board Runway22.
Meanwhile, the PNGFDW signed an MoU with the Women’s Micro Bank to enable partnership with them to roll out a Credit Guarantee Scheme.
This is the first of its kind, not just in Papua New Guinea but also the Pacific. This will enable aspiring fashion designers with financial assistance to grow their SME in the Fashion Design industry.
Special Guest at the launching, Minister for Tourism Arts & Culture Isi Henry Leonard, in his speech also highlighted that fashion is not a new concept as it has always been part of our culture, whether it be tattoo on the face or on the body or a tie they put on the body, whether it be an armband or a tapa cloth. He said PNG is so richly diverse that people do not need to go anywhere else to find inspiration.