Australian Fashion Week changes it up after IMG exit

Top designers have backed a redesign of Australian Fashion Week, the nation's biggest fashion event.

Earlier in November, the company IMG stepped away from the week of runway shows in Sydney after 20 years at the helm, leaving its future in doubt.

However, industry peak body the Australian Fashion Council announced on Monday the event will continue as a not-for-profit.

"Fashion Week is not important for the high heels and champagne," said Fashion Council chief executive Jaana Quaintance-James at the Sydney Opera House.

"It's important for the business of fashion, for collectively positioning Australia as the source of incredible brands that are highly respected on the global stage."

In making the announcement, Quaintance-James acknowledged designers were "shocked and disappointed" when IMG withdrew.

The council promised to quickly form a working group to oversee the 2025 event.

In a high-end show of solidarity, dozens of industry figures attended the announcement, including Bianca Spender, Michael Lo Sordo, and Romance Was Born's Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales.

"Having a not-for-profit organise Australian Fashion Week will be a game-changer and it's how other successful fashion weeks like Milan and Paris operate," said Alex Schuman, chief executive of label Carla Zampatti.

The NSW government said it was committed to supporting Fashion Week in Sydney.

"This is the industry that makes the biggest economic contribution to the creative industries in this state, it's much more important than many people realise," Arts Minister John Graham said.

The industry employs 500,000 people and generates more than $28 billion for the Australian economy, according to figures provided by the council.

The departure of IMG in November followed naming rights sponsor Afterpay pulling out after the 2023 edition, and a trail of successful brands, such as Zimmerman, opting to show overseas.

The event has proved to be a launching pad for local designers over decades, providing global exposure leading to international markets.

But it has slowly shifted from targeting overseas buyers to attracting the general public, keen to see ready-to-wear collections they can purchase instantly.

The groundbreaking label S!X, by designers Denise Sprynskyj and Peter Boyd, first showed at Fashion Week in the 1990s.

Dr Sprynskyj welcomed the not-for-profit model as an opportunity for sustainability initiatives and to promote first nations designers.

"This will be a very, very different style of Fashion Week, I gather, depending upon who they put into the overarching committee," she told AAP.

Targeting runway shows to the general public may not be an issue for Fashion Week in future, as long as retailers and high end clients are still catered for, she said.

"Providing they still have that feeling of ease, and also they are made to feel special, I don't see any problem with it."