“Cleveland Fashion Week reflects all the essence of Cleveland’s transformation,
having gained the reputation as “the educational fashion week.”
Francesco Di Maio, International Designer Representative
It’s about design. It’s about education.
It’s about retail business development in the American garment industry.
Donald C. Shingler, President and Founder
Fashion Week Cleveland
MISSION and PURPOSE
Fashion Week Cleveland (FWC) exists to inform consumers and industry leaders about the cultural importance and economic importance of fashion design, manufacturing, marketing, and merchandising. In addition to classic and creative runway shows.
FWC incorporates exhibits, films, industry tours, seminars and workshops in partnership with a diverse group of cultural institutions. Educational partners have included the Western Reserve Historical Society – Chisholm Halle Costume Wing, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, Hard Rock Cafe Historical Costume Collection, Kent State University Museum, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Central to fashion week in Cleveland are educational programs on the topics of fashion design, merchandising, manufacture, education, consumerism and retail growth. This deepening of the strategic vision of Fashion Week Cleveland 2011 makes Fashion Week Cleveland absolutely unique and truly innovative in the list of grand fashion weeks held at fashion captials and we believe those who sponsor and partner with FWC will share our success.
These prominent institutions join Fashion Week Cleveland in building awareness and support for our city’s rich past and promising future in the American fashion industry. They recognize that our city is one of museums and educational institutions on a Great Lake.
Fashion Week Cleveland, “the educational fashion week”, is an annual conference and convention held the first week of May
in Cleveland, Ohio.
FASHION WEEK CLEVELAND
TO BROADEN CULTURAL PROGRAMS
Who says Ohio has no Style? Certainly no one who’s attended Fashion Week Cleveland, a regional phenomenon that’s become the nation’s third largest fashion week after New York and Los Angeles. Founded in 2003 by Donald Shingler, a cosmetic dentist and longtime Cleveland native, the weeklong event each spring highlights the region’s budding fashion community. FWC hopes to double its number of programs next year. FWC includes seminars, parties, lectures and films educating the public about the intricacies of fashion, with events in different cultural institutions across the city. The festivities end with a runway show on the final day of the week, when local and emerging designers highlight their creations. This year, 14 designers — student as well as professional — showed to a crowd of nearly 400, reported James Harris, managing director of FWC and partner of H/L Communications, which represents the event. The week included 12 events and programs over eight days, with a lecture on children’s fashion at the Western Reserve Historical Society, a seminar on Japanese fashion at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and a tribute to fashion in music at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Next year, FWC plans to include another large-scale fashion show; several boutique trunk shows; a performing arts series of film, music and theater; a revamped Web site, and branded educational, cultural and merchandising programs. “We expect to increase our partnership venues and a menu of restaurant and hotel packages for attendees,” Harris reported. “Fashion isn’t just haute couture,” asserted Shingler. “There are elements of fashion in sports, in business, in cultural institutions. So, if you broaden what the term means, you can begin by including events at different institutions and other venues around the city.”
Source: www.fashionweekcleveland.com