Australia’s largest and longest-running consumer fashion event, the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival will collaborate with Kmart Australia to introduce two new events to the Festival’s program. This includes the Fashion Business Lunch presented by Kmart on 7 March 2023 and the Family Runway presented by Kmart on 11 March 2023.
PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival CEO, Caroline Ralphsmith said the nine-day festival champions the positive representation of the diverse fashion community, from signature world-class runways with Australia’s leading designers to a range of free community-led events.
“PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival loves promoting our Australian designers in our premium runways and throughout the fashion culture program and we also facilitate the democratisation of fashion to ensure it is accessible to all consumers,” she said.
Kmart Group managing director, Ian Bailey and the Kmart team are thrilled to be partnering with Melbourne’s leading consumer fashion event for the first time with the debut of the Fashion Business Lunch.
“Kmart innovates the shopping experience, delighting customers with its famously low prices, and has become a destination for Australian families to access affordable everyday products, including the latest in fashion trends,” Bailey said.
“At Kmart, our design, product development and sourcing teams work together in the quest to bring on-trend styles with sustainable attributes to all whilst respecting our planet and partners. Kmart’s products are designed by more than 50 Australian designers and the runway will feature sustainably sourced apparel at our everyday low prices. Our family runway, ‘Style your Way’, will unveil new season apparel across women, men and kids.
“At Kmart, we’re committed to being accessible to everyone and we are delighted this year to partner with PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival to provide a free ticketed event for families which includes complimentary access to the Melbourne Museum on the day.”
Ian Bailey will be among four leading industry figures to speak at the inaugural Fashion Business Lunch, presented by Kmart: Innovating to Secure the Future of Australian Fashion, to discuss key issues facing design and development in today’s digital retail environment. The panel will also feature Cotton Australia supply chain consultant, Brooke Summers, BODD co-founder and CEO, Rob Fisher and PayPal general manager of payments, Andrew Toon.
“We are introducing the Fashion Business Lunch to gather the fashion community together to start a new conversation about the Future of Fashion. It is an opportunity to showcase organisations leading the charge across a range of key business topics critical to securing a strong, vibrant and sustainable future for Australian fashion. We’re excited to have Ian Bailey as our keynote speaker who offers a behind the scenes look at Kmart’s modern design, product development, and digital capabilities,” Ralphsmith said.