Shipping In Style

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The New York Sun

Last July, the up-and-coming designer Mary Ping resigned herself to not having a fashion show this season. The timing couldn’t have been worse: She had won a prestigious Ecco Domani award in February and her well-received show had increased her business and generated buzz. A follow-up presentation would be crucial. But all the new orders for fall had drained her cash flow, making the expense of a fashion show impossible to handle. “I had just decided not to show, when Fern Mallis [executive director of 7th on Sixth, the organizer of Olympus Fashion Week] suddenly called one morning,” Ms. Ping said. “She told me that I had been selected to show in the UPS-sponsored tent in Bryant Park. That was such a good phone call! It resolved my problems instantly.”


The UPS sponsorship of New York fashion week is a new initiative, unique within the business. While the Bryant Park shows draw plenty of corporate sponsors that contribute to the construction of the tents each year – after all, the event’s official name is Olympus Fashion Week – UPS is the only backer that has created a separate venue specifically for emerging designers. The cost for each designer to produce a fashion show in the Bryant Park tents ranges from $30,000 to $100,000. But for the 10 designers of the UPS Hub, the event is free.


“It’s a fabulous group of people and we’re so happy that we’re able to support them,” Ms. Mallis said. “We’ve been wanting to do this for years.” So why is UPS the first company willing to invest in this kind of project? “They were looking for an idea that would separate them from the other sponsors and give them their own identity,” Ms. Mallis explains. “So I said, ‘You’re in the business of delivering the goods, why not deliver the talent to the audience?’ And they decided to go for it.”


It’s not the first time the company has invested in budding fashion talents. The first UPS-sponsored fashion show was Miguel Adrover’s fall/winter 2004-05 presentation, which included a couple of UPS-inspired outfits and one UPS deliveryman as a model. The company also backed B. Michael’s show last season and supported three emerging creators during the past Paris haute couture shows. “It might seem like a strange fit for UPS to be so involved in fashion, but in fact it makes perfect sense,” said the public relations officer for the company, Karen Cole. “The fashion industry is so global with manufacturers and resources everywhere, and UPS is the business that brings it all together.”


So will the UPS Hub become a regular feature of New York fashion week? “When you commit to support an industry, you don’t do it just once,” Ms. Cole said. “We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do in the future, but UPS will definitely continue to have a presence during the New York shows.” And a regular UPS hub would certainly be welcomed by 7th on Sixth. “It’s very much in our interest to continue this initiative,” Ms. Mallis said.


More than 300 portfolios from hopeful creators initially were submitted after the project was advertised in WWD earlier this summer. The 10 final designers were selected by an anonymous industry committee from Vogue, 7th on Sixth, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Parsons School of Design, and Fashion Group International. The group mainly consists of rising American stars like Ms. Ping, Doo Ri, and Project Alabama, but there are also international talents such as Australia’s Kit Willow and the Indian designer Ashish N Soni.


Ms. Ping is now busy preparing her new fashion show for Thursday morning, which will be her first in Bryant Park. It’s a strange experience for a designer who’s used to pulling together a presentation on a shoestring budget. “They gave us a whole handbook on all the logistics,” she marveled. “There are all these regulations about security that I’ve never encountered before. We have to print out lists for backstage passes and know exactly what entrances to use for deliveries.” But all the professionalism and technical support also helps Ms. Ping’s creative juices flow. “I’m used to doing everything myself,” she said, “but this time I can really concentrate on just making the clothes.”


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