With another year drawing to a close, fashion graduates work frantically

 on their final projects, all with the same looming question ... "what's next?" Confronted with an industry in the midst of such immense change, the journey ahead feels like uncharted territory. 

 

Listening to Juliette Hogan reminisce on her time in fashion school highlights exactly how extraordinary that change is. She recalls, "When I was a student, we'd wait with bated breath until magazines were released, and then we'd be able to see what had happened internationally". This experience is in stark contrast with my own use of the Vogue Runway app, which provides crystal clear images of each look instantaneously as I sip my coffee. 

 

In the last four years, we have learned about everything that is wrong with fashion, the waste, the lack of inclusivity or respect, and the irreversible environmental damage done to our planet. Still, we have also been in training to dive headfirst into the thick of it. 

 

Fashion is infamously fast-paced, and that only continues to speed up as globalisation envelopes us in opportunity and temptation. A lot has changed for New Zealand fashion in the last couple of decades. As Benny Castles, Director and designer of WORLD, points out, "Brands like WORLD, Zambesi, Kate Sylvester, Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper have grown up, and we have become identities of luxury in the New Zealand market, whereas kids are now going to grow up going, well WORLD's not luxury, Louis Vuitton is luxury". 

 

With the world rapidly opening up and fashion enthusiasts armed with a digital 6-inch store sitting in their pocket, New Zealand designers have had to adjust to the new industry they work in. "There has been a massive change in how the industry offers itself to designers," Castles reflects. "We used to go and sit down with about 3-4 different companies every season to look at their new fabrics for the season; now that just doesn't exist at all." 

 

As the industry speeds up, our nationally loved labels have had to adjust their businesses and creativity to ensure they aren't lost in the sea of opportunity enabled by the internet. For Hogan, "It means we have far greater relationships with our customers because we can interact with them on a daily basis through social media." While across the road at WORLD, "It's about innovating with interest" in the form of their opulent range of international niche fragrances. This growth has been greatly facilitated by the effects of globalisation, with Castles reflecting, "We used to travel and meet and buy, and now people just send you an email." 

Globalisation has opened up a cosmos of opportunity for anyone with internet access. New Zealand labels can now dress people on the other side of the world, and New Zealand people now have an overwhelming amount of choice when shopping for their next pair of jeans. However, as Jennifer Whitty, a sustainable fashion systems researcher, designer, educator & consultant, reminds us, "If you're not putting money into your local environment, how will it sustain itself ?" 

 

With those opportunities comes a challenge: to understand and support our national designers but also our environment, which is compromised with every purchase we make. Purchasing less from local, high-quality labels like Juliette Hogan or WORLD instead of more from COS supports our local economy and creativity. It also comes with an opportunity to engage in a slower fashion business model, consuming higher quality items at a slower pace. 

 

Globalisation has created a universal platform for design, but it has also founded an industry of mass production and overconsumption that threatens the well-being of our world. "Up to the tariffs of the '80s, there were limitations or restrictions to what people could get in New Zealand, and then you have got this backlash of like oh well, now we can get what whatever you want", Whitty observes, "Feast or famine kind of mentality." The senseless volume in which we consume is of serious concern, and buying less is the answer. While we won't stop buying altogether, we can limit ourselves as Castles rightly asserts, "Buy things that you love, and you will stop buying too much; you will stop buying shit and actually support those who innovate". 

 

When considering globalisation's effects on our beloved industry, I am overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility, a responsibility to shop mindfully in every sense of the word. Thinking about our treasured designers who have crafted unique identities that are New Zealand fashion, but also the environment, as it degrades under the constant pressure of capitalist excesses. 

 

"It is a blessing and a curse, the world is your oyster, but it is really hard to achieve and make your mark", Juliette Hogan remarks. As we conclude our discussion, she puts my mind at ease, yet the question of "what next" still remains. 

 

Inevitably the unstoppable force of globalisation is our future, not only for fashion graduates. As we discuss how WORLD continues to deal with these changes, Castles points out, "The innovation for us, really, is to think more clearly about how to be good retailers", adding, "As an industry of retail, we need to remain exciting enough to get people out of the house and into the shop, and that's going to be a challenge going forward." 

 

 

Juliette Hogan | Creative Director of Juliette Hogan.

Benny Castles | Creative Director of WORLD Brand.

Jennifer Whitty | Sustainable fashion systems researcher, designer, educator & consultant.