The tents of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim have closed, but Miami fashionistas have something new to look forward to: Macy's announced yesterday that it'll bring its prestigious fashion incubator program to Miami to help foster designers in the areas of creative approach, production, and business savvy.
See also: Trolling the Models at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim 2015 (VIDEO)
"We see Miami as a true 21st century city," said Ed Goldberg, senior vice president of Macy's in New York, at an event yesterday to report on the progress of the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's economic development partnership. "This is a public program designed to take talented young people and put them into a program for a year to train them, teaching them the business and creative aspects of fashion."
Macy's currently operates three other fashion incubators, in Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. The residencies aim to teach budding fashion mavericks about all sides of the business, from "trend forecasting, retail pricing and cost/value analysis, to distribution channels and finance management ... profit margins, markups, sourcing, and production." The programs rank among the top five fashion incubators in the country.
The Beacon Council's One Community One Goal initiative, which aims to expand seven Miami industries including creative design, helped usher in the Macy's program. The initiative's creative industries task force leader, Joseph Roisman of the clothing brand Perry Ellis, told the Miami Herald that the program should help keep talented designers in Miami, rather than moving to better established fashion capitals like New York City.
"Miami is the epicenter of the creative industries," he said. "What we need to do is create enough jobs so our students will stay in Miami."
No official launch date has been reported for the Miami incubator.
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