FASHION is big business in the developed world from London to Tokyo, Africa to the Caribbean.  In Guyana, a small number of enterprising designers were able to break into this lucrative scene and managed to secure niche markets in the Caribbean and a bit further afield, but their  most outstanding deterrent has been the availability of adequate funding.   Fashion designing in Guyana has grown from manufacture of clothing to include jewellery, accessories and household artefacts like bed and bath linens and window treatments.  But the Guyana market is miniscule, unable to consume the amount of products manufactured by established designers of the ilk of Derek Moore, Pat Coates, Sonia Noel and Marcia Fraser, and by lesser known people in the business.  
Eco-friendly
The ranks of local designers are swelling with younger and very talented people, some of whom have begun to create only with eco-friendly, bio-degradable materials for their “new lifestyle innovations and fashion apparel”.  This is according to Carol Fraser of Miracle Hands Designs.  She is one of the Guyanese designers who has successfully penetrated Caribbean and North American export markets with products made from natural fibres and organic materials.  
She is one of the key players in the recently founded Guyana Fashion Designers Council that was launched spectacularly on Sunday 30th June with a show titled “Fit Me 2013”.  The new council is made up of a cluster of fashion designers and garment manufacturers brought together under the aegis of the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA).  

Funding from CEDA
Recognising that foreign donor agencies tend to favour clusters with emphasis on women in business, the GMSA sought funding from the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), the region’s principal financier for development projects for development of the fashion industry.   
 Late in 2012 CEDA approved a reimbursable grant worth 70 percent of the project valued at 42,989.60 Euro.  The council and GMSA must raise the remaining 30 percent (12,989.60 Euro) to add to the CEDA grant of 30,000 Euro that goes towards capacity building for designers, including training by professionals from home and abroad, and visits by local designers to fashion centres overseas.
The funds are coming from the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), the main EU instrument for providing “Community Aid” for development cooperation in ACP countries.
Already the council and the GMSA have recruited the services of now world renowned fashion expert Donna Ramsammy-James to conduct a lecture series on Entrepreneurial Approaches to Fashion, and the need to maintain integrity, focus and commitment to markets.  Other consultants have been identified to conduct technical training on cutting techniques, pattern making and sketching, among other things.  
In addition, the council expects to involve veteran Guyanese designers and entertainers who have already penetrated the export market.  These people include Andrea Braithwaite (hand-painted pieces), Olympia Small-Sonaram (lingerie), Sonia Noel (women’s, gents & children’s clothing) and Paula Evans/Paul Burnett (tie-dyed, batik, hand painted clothing).
These are among the deliverables specifically laid out in the CEDA-sponsored project document which mandates the formation of the Guyana Fashion Designers Council, its official registration and setting up a secretariat with an organisational structure.

GMSA’s second business support affiliate
This is actually the second time that the GMSA has been instrumental in establishing an affiliate BSO.  The first was Empretec Guyana that is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary.  GMSA President Clinton Williams related that ten years ago the association approached UNIDO/UNDP for funding assistance to develop the Guyana branch of Empretec based on the models of the Swiss world organisation headquartered in Geneva.   Empretec Guyana’s development began with an intense international three-year capacity building and training programme.  “An examination of the Private Sector spectrum now would reveal the significant contributions Empretec Guyana has made towards the sustained growth and expansion of many micro and small businesses in Guyana,” Williams said in his address to the June launch of the Fashion Designers Council.  Empretec now functions as an affiliate of the GMSA, equipped with a fully functional secretariat and an independent Board of Directors.
“It was by no accident that the GMSA is doing this again on our 50th Anniversary,” Williams stated.  “This time we are pursuing the lucrative opportunities available in the international multi-billion US dollar fashion industry,” he said, pointing out that the funding received from CEDA/EU will ready Guyana’s fashion designers for the big league.  
European Union
 The European Union was also represented at the launch by Derek Lambe, Head of Political and Press Information, EU Guyana Delegation.   He said that the fashion industry in Europe is worth over 30 billion euro (equivalent to almost US$40B). Germany, Italy, and the UK are the largest clothing markets in Europe. The fashion industry in Europe lists 850,000 companies, 5 million jobs, and another 3 million fashion related jobs throughout the supply chain. “Fashion accounts for 3% of EU gross domestic product and 10% of exports,” he revealed.  
Over the past few years, however, the global economic downturn and debt crisis crunched domestic spending which affected discretionary spending on fashion.  “However, the outlook is now quite positive and the European fashion industry is forecast to grow by 9.3% between 2012 and 2017,” the EU representative stated.
Europe is undoubtedly the fashion Mecca of the world, an industry represented by the major houses of Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent, Armani, Dior and many others.  Historically, according to Lambe, European fashion is believed to have had its beginnings in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.  France was considered the centre of the fashion world until the mid 20th century when it was joined by Milan (Italy) and London (England), and subsequently by Tokyo, New York, Beijing and other cities in and outside of Europe. “While today a lot of manufacturing and design of fashion takes place outside of Europe, it nevertheless remains the most important centre of fashion design and the biggest market in the world,” Mr. Lambe said.
Global Billion Dollar industry
This billion dollar global industry is the beacon for local designers.  According to Management Consultant with the Guyana Fashion Designers Council, Joycelyn Williams of JTW & Associates, the current focus is on building the institutional and productive capacities of this cluster of fashion designers and manufacturers of related products.  But the first order of business is to establish cohesion and raise awareness of technical and marketing needs.  This, she said, will raise the profile of products locally, regionally and internationally.  
The cluster will also seek affiliation to the Jamaican, Canadian, American and Indian Designers Councils and the Toronto Fashion Incubator, attend the London Fashion Week event and undertake tours to neighbouring Suriname and Venezuela.
She pointed out that the new council will be registered shortly and will then be in a position to invite membership from every region of Guyana.  New members would include manufacturers of household decorative artefacts (e.g. tie-dyed bed and bath linen), handbags, shoes, jewellery and other accessories.  The entertainment aspect of the industry (models, actors) will also be included in this cluster industry and trained in the value of team dynamics.
The council has already begun to approach local department stores with proposals to carry the fashion lines created by its members.  One down town Georgetown store has tentatively agreed to stock and retail the unique pieces that were displayed at the “Fit Me 2013” show at the Umana Yana on 30 June last, and those coming out of other fashion events in the future.  Ms. Williams stressed that “Fit Me 2013” is to become an annual event.  
This particular achievement addresses another key deliverable of the council – that is to find or create a ‘common space’ for access to locally designed products.
European Union Representative, Derek Lambe, said it succinctly: “Fashion links creativity, design and craftsmanship to modern technologies, branding strategies and successful business models.  The fashion industry can contribute to further (in-country) economic growth and increasing exports”.