One of the best things about Project Runway that people may not realise, she said, is that it’s syndicated all over the world over a decade. Our focus is North America and I think we miss a lot of huge markets south of the hemisphere we can tap into.” A lot of what I’ve been working on recently is shifting to outside of the US. “Beyond having a brand that is also recognisable, which is a huge leg-up, I still actively pursue the niche markets outside the Caribbean that have much more scalability. Winning the design competition in 2012 gave her an advantage of global brand recognition. Project Runway has undoubtedly given her levels of exposure she would have been unable to achieve – not even as a former Miss Trinidad & Tobago – allowing international brand recognition and credibility that would otherwise take years to cultivate.Ī creation by Anya Ayoung Chee on Project Runway All Stars 2019. Which was possible though another advantage – she’s also a US citizen. Of course, Ayoung Chee has a platform not many independent local designers can leverage – she’s the Season 9 (2012) winner of hit US reality TV show Project Runway. But I’ve seen traction in incremental sales like seeing people buying things in Dubai or Singapore, but I don’t really know how much of that is on purpose.” “I’m very interested in SE Asia, and haven’t done this yet, but I’m really interested in Brazil, particularly for WYLD FLWR, because of how big carnival is there as well. Really breaking into these non-traditional markets is still in the early phases and she’s discussing options with her team about how to get into them, but she’s made some organic progress, mainly through social media and Instagram ads in specific countries. So playing to markets that are culturally similar to us is very exciting to me.” You don’t have to convince them to wear clothes that are really over the top or encrusted with gems – that is what they do naturally, just like us. “But when you think of Sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia and Latin America, first of all, there are people in these markets with lots of money, and they also have a lifestyle similar to ours. They might use it on vacation or a festival or seasonally. They don’t have as many reasons or natural usages of super-flowy, vibrant, colourful Caribbean clothes. “Here we are beating down the doors of the US and Canada and the UK, but we have to convince them that they need what we make. Instead, she wants to set her sights on places like South Africa, Brazil and South East Asia – places that culturally, have a similar style to the Caribbean.Īs a designer and businesswoman, Anya Aoung Chee is refining her targets and looking to new, untapped markets. As niche as it may be in the grand scheme of things, it is still a more scalable business than Monday wear.”Īs she refines her targets, Ayoung Chee is also looking to home in on places beyond the usual diaspora core of the US, UK and Canada. And that’s been liberating – seeing a window. It’s a product that has more flexibility. “It’s something that is sustainable – a brand you can look at that you can wear it to a festival, but you can also to, say, a wedding. “We make a very unique product,” she said, describing festival wear as a hybridisation of Carnival Monday wear with something appealing to a global audience. Monday wear by definition is just one day, and not many of the other carnivals in the world have a two-day festival, so the market is already narrowed – not to mention the thousands of Monday-wear designers out there, she said. It was bad timing, she laughed, but she’s still confident that despite the pandemic, once festivals are allowed to happen again, the growth potential for the brand will strong. Last February, Ayoung Chee launched WYLD FLWR, her festival-wear fashion line, in New York City. In the US alone 32 million people attend every year, according to music industry magazine Billboard. Instead, her focus would be festivals, like Burning Man. In that moment, she decided she was done designing for Carnival. Within that, a percentage of women who can purchase products at a high price point. And at maybe 50 per cent of them are women. “About 75,000 people go to this festival. “It was so ideal for that setting that I was like, why am I beating up with Carnival?” she told Business Day. It was then the 39-year-old fashion designer and businesswoman had an epiphany. When Anya Ayoung Chee attended the arts and music festival Burning Man in Nevada, about four years ago, she wore her old Monday wear costumes, designed by a variety of local designers. Thursday 28 January 2021 Anya Ayoung Chee says when it comes to ease of business, being a US citizen is a definite advantage. Business Anya Ayoung Chee looks to new markets, social causes
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