RAISEfashion Supports Designers of Color at New York Fashion Week

Addressing Barriers for Designers of Color

• 💡 Raise Fashion was founded five years ago by eight women to address obstacles faced by emerging designers, including lack of access to capital, resources, and networking opportunities.
• 🎯 The organization provides mentorship, support, and a larger platform to help talent get noticed in the fashion industry.

RAISEfashion's Designer Showcase

• 🚀 On September 9th, Raise Fashion will host a one-day showcase featuring 16 designers during New York Fashion Week.
• 🤝 This event offers designers access to retailers, influencers, content creators, and consumers, with a goal to support them in scaling their revenue.
• ✨ Community support from brands like Abercrombie, Fluency, and Ohho is crucial for the showcase's success.

Designer Spotlight: Aisling Camps

• 🌟 Aisling Camps, a knitwear designer, highlights the importance of community and mentorship provided by Raise Fashion over the past five years.
• 🗣️ She emphasizes that Raise Fashion fosters a community where designers can connect with peers who understand their challenges and offer valuable advice.
• 🌍 Camps, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, draws inspiration from nature, focusing on texture and technical approaches to knits, influenced by her background in mechanical engineering and sustainability modeling.
• 🌱 Her design philosophy emphasizes sustainability, careful material selection, upcycling, and minimal waste in made-to-order items.

Importance of Representation and Support

• 📈 For underrepresented designers, the path to success is often more challenging, requiring tenacity and a scrappy approach due to unequal funding.
• 💬 Organizations like Raise Fashion are vital for supporting the growth of these designers by connecting them with executives and the broader fashion community.
• 💖 Fashion is seen as art, self-expression, culture, and connectivity to a major industry, making diversity and emerging designer support essential.

Where to Find Aisling Camps' Designs

• 🛍️ Aisling Camps' designs are currently available at Bergdorf Goodman on the East Coast, McMullen on the West Coast, and Odissey online.