New Designer Square: Idee's Fashion Testing Area

Almost all the young designerswho participated in the Taiwan Fashion Party began learning to manage their own brands in Idee's New Designer Square. When Idee first discovered them, they had no experience running their own businesses. Idee provided all the furnishings and sales people they needed, but the designers had to set up studios and find assistants, fabric, couturiers, and, most importantly, capital in the shortest time possible. They had been used to sitting in design rooms, putting their ideas down on paper. This new and challenging learning track entailed fighting in the trenches.

"But they somehow made it and, in the process, became independent brand name designers," recalls Idee's merchandising director Christina Ko. To set itself apart from the competition, Idee sent Ko to Japan on a study tour. She visited the Isetan department store where she saw New Designer Square, an area used for the trial sale of new products. Taken by the idea, Ko brought the concept back to Taiwan to give new designers a platform on which to exhibit their garments.

"When we first decided to implement the idea, we predicted that we would lose around NT$2 million every year. That was a price we were willing to pay, because it would allow us to cultivate new talent, while adding uniqueness to our products." Idee would help new designers by staging two fashion shows a year. This approach, a first for department stores, was a shot in the arm for several local designers and helped launched their careers.

Ko lists some of the designers who worked with Idee: Stephane Dou and Changlee Yugin, both of whom later set up their own boutiques; Lin Kuo-chi, now product supervisor at Full Flower; and Goia Pan, Chen Chien, Kang Chia-wei, Carole Chang, Jane Hu, Chiang Wen-chi, and Elsie Huang, all of whom are doing well after setting up boutiques selling their own brands in various department stores and elsewhere. New Designer Square obviously worked.

Idee's New Designer Square, the only one of its kind in Taiwan, was a place where designers could realize their dream to create their own brands. Individuals who were selected could only set up there for three or four seasons. Even so, each year over 100 designers, loaded down with drawings and creations, applied, so that the square was always filled with fresh, innovative creations.

"Four years ago, we began having difficultly finding new local designers. We went to Hong Kong to find new blood, but found it hard to keep the displays operating normally because of the long supply lines. We had no choice but to call it quits." In March of 2003, after eight years of operation, the final curtain dropped on New Designer Square. Ko believes the sharp drop in the number of local designers coming forward might stem from the fact that the Taiwan Textile Federation, running on a tight budget, has been unable to organize activities such as fashion shows for new designers. That, coupled with lackluster purchasing brought on by the economic slump, has caused potential designers to shy away from the industry and instead try their luck in other career fields.

Idee and the designers who showed their work in New Designer Square were disappointed to see it go. Looking to the future, "If the government would implement measures such as subsidies and incentives to encourage the fashion industry like it does the high-tech industry, then Taiwan's design sector could still make a comeback," says a hopeful Ko. (tr. by Chris Findler)