By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti
The team at Fiji Fashion Week has started 2023 with a spring in their step after securing Vodafone Fiji as their major sponsor for the next three years.
This is the first time Vodafone is sponsoring a fashion event, and the partners are already setting out to change the way garments are sold in Fiji by including Fiji Fashion Week (FFW) designers on Vodafone’s e-commerce platform, ‘Viti Kart’.
Vodafone Acting CEO, Rajesh Prasad, said, “We have made the commitment to stay with Fiji Fashion Week for the next three years. This is to ensure that it’s not a short term commitment but a long term commitment.
“We want to help promote the local talent of the designers in the Fiji fashion industry,” he continued, “and we joined forces with Fiji Fashion Week to help fulfil the dream that we have in this industry.”
FFW Director, Ellen Whippy Knight, was all smiles at the sponsorship announcement.
Knight said, “I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to be partnering up with Vodafone in 2023; I’ve been knocking on Vodafone’s door since 2013.
“It just goes to show that persistence really pays,” she said.
While sustainability is still at the forefront for Fiji Fashion Week, the FFW team knows that the rise of e-commerce platforms is a global trend, and this new partnership will connect designers to the growing platform.
Whippy-Knight added that Viti Kart is a perfect match for local designers.
“Number 1: It is local; number 2: The fees have been waived for this time for designers to use this platform, and number 3: Most designers can’t afford to have a shop of their own, so having a reliable and supportive local, reliable online platform is absolutely ideal for designers,” she said.
Vodafone Fiji Fashion Week will be held at the Vodafone Arena this year on May 27–June 3.
