Fashion weekend

Spearheaded by the executives at Designers United Stores, the seven-member team is keen on developing a path towards sustainable development of the local fashion industry. The three-day fashion event showcased local, regional and international creative talent for both networking and commerce. But, according to one of the director Ashley Christmas, the festivities were expanded to include exciting new features that aim to bring greater substance to the annual event, he added that the hope is to get more youths involved.

“I am hoping that we can bring this event to the point where we can hand it over to younger folks to create that ultimate sustainable environment, that’s one of the reason why we go to the schools. So the message is also very important and we need to continue making that message extremely clear that 2TFW is not only an event, it’s a programme to be part of, an industry building process,” Christmas said.

This year’s event boasted of collections from designers such as House of Byfield, Ria Ramkisoon, Romero Bryan, The Cloth, Hutch Beachwear, Honamic Designs and much more. Also among the attractions was a retail market, during which the public was able to purchase items from the designers featured during the event.

Questioned about the name change, he noted that Tobago would definitely benefit more with the growth as the integration is bigger and better.

“This year, we have rebranded from TFW to 2TFW, it’s actually a natural progression. When you grow, you attract more locals, more investors, more partners, more sponsors, and been just TFW we were limited to where growth was concerned. There were the corporate entities that wouldn’t do business with us because we were just solely Tobago. With the expansion, obviously there are growing pains, but for the most part we have been well received,” Christmas explained.

The event included an attempt at breaking the record for the longest fashion runway inTobago, however, this was short-lived as according to Christmas the path faced devastation by human elements as well as weather conditions. The “runway” for this feat was expected to stretch from Rituals Coffee House at Crown Point to Renmars Restaurant and Bar in Pigeon Point Heritage Park.