Fern Mallis
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Why did you decide to bring Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to Miami?
We were working with the Greater Miami CVB, and they talked to us about fashion being such an important part of the city and wanted to know if there was something we could do here. So we said, "Let's look at what's exciting in Miami that would make sense for us to do here," and came up with swimwear.Why did you decide to do the event in the middle of summer, a slow time for the event industry?
We didn't want to come down here in December or February, because everything is so booked then, so July made perfect sense.
How has the event grown in the three years since its inception?
It's grown by the number of designers who are participating, the quality of the brands and labels, and the amount of press and media covering it. We had 10 designers the first year, and now we have 16.
How far in advance did you start planning?
I don't think we ever really start or stop planning with any of our events; they just keep going. Everybody here is already making notes about what we shouldn't do next year, what needs to be done earlier, or what could make it even better.
Where do you hope to see the event go in the future?
We'd like to see more sponsors come on board. This is a great market to get new products out to a very cool group of people. That's what will help grow this event: the continued involvement of first-class sponsorships.
What advice would you give a planner looking to expand an event?
Don't try to go too big too fast. Go to lots of events and really walk through them from the participants' and sponsors' perspectives. Get your head out of it and see how everyone else will see it. Figure out what not to do, make a list of the things that worked, and listen, listen, listen to those around you.
We were working with the Greater Miami CVB, and they talked to us about fashion being such an important part of the city and wanted to know if there was something we could do here. So we said, "Let's look at what's exciting in Miami that would make sense for us to do here," and came up with swimwear.Why did you decide to do the event in the middle of summer, a slow time for the event industry?
We didn't want to come down here in December or February, because everything is so booked then, so July made perfect sense.
How has the event grown in the three years since its inception?
It's grown by the number of designers who are participating, the quality of the brands and labels, and the amount of press and media covering it. We had 10 designers the first year, and now we have 16.
How far in advance did you start planning?
I don't think we ever really start or stop planning with any of our events; they just keep going. Everybody here is already making notes about what we shouldn't do next year, what needs to be done earlier, or what could make it even better.
Where do you hope to see the event go in the future?
We'd like to see more sponsors come on board. This is a great market to get new products out to a very cool group of people. That's what will help grow this event: the continued involvement of first-class sponsorships.
What advice would you give a planner looking to expand an event?
Don't try to go too big too fast. Go to lots of events and really walk through them from the participants' and sponsors' perspectives. Get your head out of it and see how everyone else will see it. Figure out what not to do, make a list of the things that worked, and listen, listen, listen to those around you.
