Apparel | Monday, August 11, 2008

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SUPIMA DESIGN CONTEST: They’re doing it again!

By CeCe Shelburne

NEW YORK — Supima announced today that it will hold its second annual Design Contest for Emerging Talent in early 2009.

“The first Contest [which concluded in a live runway show at Gotham Hall on July 15] generated tremendous energy—we were overwhelmed with the designers’ creativity in coming up with beautiful new ways of using Supima fabrics,” says Buxton Midyette, vice president of marketing for Supima, the Phoenix-based marketing and promotional agency representing U.S. growers of extra-long staple Pima, the world’s finest cotton.

Among the more inspired and unconventional matches of fabric and design in the contest that concluded last month: A hand-beaded evening gown by Brigitte Schwenner composed of the kind of sturdy piqué knit traditionally associated with men’s polos; a luxuriously detailed strapless wedding gown created by couturier Sergio Guadarrama from white shirting fabric; and several evening gowns constructed from premium denim.

The second contest will get underway this fall with an expanded panel of judges, and finalists will be named during October or November. The live runway show, which will again be the contest’s culminating event, is currently being slated to coincide with the next edition of PREFAB, the Supima sourcing trade show held during New York’s textile market week in late January.

“You might say that it’s coming back by popular demand. The response to our recent contest was phenomenal,” says Midyette (who’s shown announcing the winners of the 2008 contest at right). The Supima contest received press in WWD, Fashion Week Daily, Elle.com, CosmoGIRL.com, and a slew of fashion-specific Web sites and blogs.

For further information on contest submission guidelines, watch this space.