KINGSLEY Cooper, CEO of Pulse Model Agency and conceptualiser of Carib-bean Fashionweek (CFW), is calling on regional designers to view fashion as an industry to reap its benefits.

Cooper’s comments come just days before the 13th annual CFW scheduled to start Friday at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew.

“Our designers have to approach design as a business, which is what it is. Deal with all aspects. Be properly trained and fully understand the business in which they are engaged. Plan carefully, step by step, with a specific, realistic target in mind,” Cooper told the Jamaica Observer.

He stated that failure to see their craft in business terms, is one reason why Caribbean designers fail to make it in the international market.

“Of course, there are several other areas of development required to sustain and make a fashion industry grow. Management is key, as a design house is an independent business, first and foremost. Funding is another area, so is production, manufacturing, as well as the technical skills to make the design house efficient and effective,” he said.

For Cooper, this is one of the reasons CFW remains relevant.

“CFW has had to wear many hats, including those that a fashion week was not meant to wear. Business forums, workshops, for example, as well as the Caribbean Fashion Industry Association (CAFIA) are all part and parcel of CFW and have come out of CFW.”

This year, the CFW business forum will feature presentations by Kubi Springer, a branding expert out of the United Kingdom, and marketing executive Jessica Huie, also from the UK.

Cooper is urging designers to understand the role of a fashion week and how to maximise its benefits.

“Each design house is an individual business and is responsible for their own success. No fashion week will make them successful. However, CFW plays a key role and can be of tremendous help in that process, but success will only come when all the elements required for the success of a design house, are put in place,” he added.

This week, regional designers will be joined by three African counterparts: Ethiopia’s Mafi and Fikerte and Zimbabwe’s Sabina Mutsvati.

Among the Caribbean staples whose work will be displayed on the runway are Trinidadians Claudia Pegus, Heather Jones, Robert Young and Zadd and Eastman. From Jamaica, there are Barry Moncrieffe, Biggy, Arlene Martin, Ashley Martin, Marcia Nicely, as well as Tigerlily from the Cayman Islands.