PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival partners with Australian Made

PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival has partnered with Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL) to continue the elevation of Australian fashion in the global market and whet the increasing appetite of international consumers for Australian Made designers and makers.

The partnership, launched this month with a shoppable digital runway for UK and USA consumers and a Shop The Runway® magazine to profile the best of Australian makers within the fashion industry, is funded by a multi-year Federal Government grant designed to increase the international profile of the Australian Made logo in key export markets.

Featuring leading Australian labels Bianca Spender, Bec & Bridge, Bondi Born, Arnsdorf, Manning Cartell, Strateas Carlucci, Macgraw, Maara Collective and VIKTORIA & WOODS, the uniquely Australian and visually spectacular digital presentation was shot in the Cranbourne Royal Botanical Gardens.

The pieces featured in the Australian made digital runway have been licensed to carry the famous Australian Made logo—Australia’s most recognised and trusted country of origin symbol used to identify genuine Australian products.

“Australian Made is proud to Partner with the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival and shine a light on some of Australia’s leading fashion designers and makers,” said Australian Made Chief Executive, Ben Lazzaro.

“Australian fashion and accessory products are well known for their high quality and our makers have a reputation for producing world-class designs with sustainability and ethical production at their core. We are excited to be able to help champion many of these makers to a global audience and provide a channel to market for them.”

Directed by Simon Eeles, best known for his work creating fashion films for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and V Magazines, the digital runway brought to life an iconic picture of Australia that moves away from the traditional tropes of “beach” and “bush”.

“We wanted to find a location that was uniquely Australian but that also had not been done before. Cranbourne Royal Botanical Gardens gave us Australia in spades but also unique visual and sculptural elements that allowed us to bring in a richness and diversity to the film’s narrative,” said Eeles.

Other noteworthy Australian creatives were involved in the project including stylist, Emily Ward, and hair stylist, Joey Scandizzo.

A virtual magazine, Shop The Runway®, was also be created to showcase and profile the best of Australian makers within the fashion industry. Rolled out across the UK and USA, the campaign targeted fashion-savvy viewers in these markets and allowed them to access genuine Australian products that carry the Australian Made logo.

PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival Acting CEO Yolanda Finch said the hybrid live/online program delivered in March 2021 in response to the pandemic saw significant international audience engagement with the Festival program through its digital runways, paving the way for the Festival to this year confidently communicate directly with those global fashion enthusiasts in 2022.

“The Festival has long played a role in promoting Australian fashion to international markets, including working with both State and Federal levels of Government as the fashion voice of creative diplomacy missions over many years, including to Asia, UK, and USA,” said Finch.

“The partnership with Australian Made will further support our Australian made designers and showcase them on a global stage, growing an international network of advocacy for Australian-made fashion. This is the natural next fashion step forward.”

Consumer research by Horizon Consumer Science found that the biggest motivations of overseas consumers to buy Australian fashion and accessories are quality, reputation and ethical standards.

In a survey of almost 4500 international participants, 97% of consumers have a positive first impression of the Australian Made logo, with 72% becoming intrigued about the products once they saw the logo. While 85% felt confident products carrying the logo are genuinely Australian.

The iconic green-and-gold Australian Made kangaroo logo is the only registered country-of-origin certification trademark for genuine Australian products. For more than 35 years the famous logo has been helping Australian makers, growers and exporters communicate their Australian credentials in Australia and around the world.

The Australian Made Runway is available to watch and shop from here.