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As FashionTT begins the first of its 2017 round of capacity-building workshops, General Manager Lisa-Marie Daniel said the entity was excited to be holding a workshop in Tobago, which will be the first of its kind in the sister isle.

The current workshops are called the Business of Fashion and deal with educating local designers on the importance of strategically managing their businesses to achieve desired results and revenue.
Daniel said the workshops are being put on in an effort to capture a broader audience in the fashion industry following the launch last year of the Value Chain Investment Program, for which 29 persons applied. She said the workshops aim to educate participants who are not already involved in FashionTT’s business development programs about formulating business plans, financial management, marketing, branding and customer and buyer interaction. The workshops are open to fashion designers, university students and anyone interested in a career in fashion or who wants to know more about the business of fashion.
Daniel said the programs will be useful in teaching marketing techniques for local and overseas markets, not only for designers but persons who fall into the Goods category. Acting Marketing and Communications Manager at CreativeTT, Nisha Ramkissoon, said even though there is a specific target audience for these particular workshops, FashionTT will record all of the sessions and edit them into a series of e-Learning videos which will be pushed out via their social media and YouTube channel “so that somebody who is not able to attend or has a business in another field will still be able to access the information and apply those learnings to their own businesses.”
Daniel said FashionTT has been interacting with Tobagonian designers through the various tiers of the VCIP, and wanted to further its interaction with the sister isle. Ramkissoon said there are many Tobagonian designers who may not be able to come to Trinidad for workshops “so this is an opportunity for FashionTT to go to them and provide them with the same sort of training and knowledge.”
The workshop facilitators include Dr. Suzanna Burke, Sandra Carr, Andre Taitt, Hannah Hafeez and Jessel Brizan. Daniel said they were chosen because they are experts both in the academic background and practice of running a fashion business, including business planning and finance for entreprenuers, merchandising and production management. In addition, a panel discussion will be held on July 21 with panelists Michael Christopher, Richard Young, Kathryn Nurse, Candice Bacchus and Jamilia Alexander, which will deal with issues of image, marketing, merchandising and fashion branding.
The workshops take place during four half-day sessions in Trinidad on July 14, 15, 21 and 22 at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya and one full-day session on July 27 in Tobago at the Victor E. Bruce Financial Complex, Scarborough. Daniel said each session is set up to accommodate up to 50 persons and she hopes each one is fully subscribed, so that as many people as possible within the fashion industry can be reached. Persons can register for one, some or all workshops in Trinidad.
To register, go to http://www.fashiontt.co.tt/bof2017 and for more information call 622-1455, email info@fashion.co.tt or go to http://www.fashiontt.co.tt.