Credit: Yousef Akbar, Afterpay Australian Fashion Week 2023, Carriageworks, Sydney. Photo: Mark Nolan/Getty Images for AAFW.
New South Wales’ creative ecosystem is reshaping the national and global landscape. It creates jobs, drives innovation, and showcases our creativity to the world. From visual arts and design to music and screen, most creative industries in NSW intersect with fashion. The NSW Fashion Sector Strategy 2025-2028 is the first of its kind, aligning with Creative Communities and developed in collaboration with industry. It sets out a vision for the fashion industry in NSW with six strategic priorities to support and develop industry, to grow markets and profile nationally and internationally, and establish and extend pathways for new designers into the industry.
This strategy seeks to accelerate New South Wales’ position as a global leader in high-quality, innovative and inclusive fashion – where creativity drives economic growth and a resilient, diverse industry succeeds through collaboration and global reach.
Objective: ensure the workforce and industry participants in NSW have the skills required to succeed. A strategic skills review will help industry and government assess current skills and future needs to deliver a revitalised training program that highlights the diverse career opportunities in the NSW fashion industry.
Objective: establish a dedicated centre of excellence to incubate NSW’s emerging creative talent under one roof and forge connections with fashion businesses across the clothing value chain. The Australian Fashion Hub will provide spaces for emerging and established industry participants to collaborate, while embedding and promoting advanced manufacturing technologies in the NSW textile sector.
Objective: establish an Australian-first Australian fashion smart factory pilot that will combine testing, production and workforce development facilities alongside a distribution hub. The factory will feature leading edge smart manufacturing technology and support NSW designers to develop short run collections and made to order popular designs on demand with minimum waste.
Objective: position the reimagined industry-led Australian Fashion Week, run by the Australian Fashion Council, as a top tier Sydney event on the global fashion calendar, attracting domestic and international buyers, showcasing NSW internationally and driving commercial outcomes for the industry.
Objective: provide emerging NSW designers with opportunities to showcase their designs in Paris and expand their practice internationally. These showrooms will promote NSW designers and fashion brands internationally in one of the traditional global centres of fashion and strengthen relationships with international buyers, particularly those developed via Australian Fashion Week.
Objective: support, amplify and connect audiences with the creativity of the NSW fashion industry through exhibiting, collecting, and preserving the work and archives of NSW Designers, and provide space for residencies and programs. Embed NSW sector practice into the programs of the cultural institutions through ongoing annual programs and events.
This strategy has been developed through extensive consultation with industry stakeholders and government bodies. It reflects a shared commitment to ensuring the long-term viability and global competitiveness of the NSW fashion sector. To support the development of this strategy, a working group of leading industry and government representatives identified key opportunities for the industry:
Alex Schuman has a diverse career spanning investment banking, government and fashion. He is the son of the late Carla Zampatti and now leads the Carla Zampatti group of companies, including the Carla Zampatti Foundation.
Edwina McCann is the editorial director of News Corp Australia’s Prestige Network and Conde Nast titles, previously holding the position of editor-in-chief at Vogue Australia from 2012 to 2022.
Marc Freeman is the Creative Director and co-founder of the iconic Australian luxury fashion brand Camilla and Marc in 2003 alongside his sister Camilla Freeman-Topper.
Lisa Havilah is the Chief Executive of the Powerhouse Museum.
Alix Higgins is a fashion and textiles designer based in Sydney and trained in Paris.
Grace Lillian Lee is a multicultural Australian artist, designer, and cultural leader, deeply inspired by her Torres Strait Island heritage as a descendant of the Miriam Mer Samsep people.
Elizabeth Mossop is Professor of Landscape Architecture and former Dean of the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building at the University of Technology in Sydney
Anna Plunkett is one half of renowned contemporary fashion house, Romance Was Born, known for its unique storytelling vision.
Janna Quaintance-James is the CEO of the Australian Fashion Council.
If you have any accessibility feedback or concerns related to this resource, please contact us.
