Arab Fashion Council launches fashion fund for emerging designers
Arab Fashion Council launches fashion fund Credits: Arab Fashion Council The Arab Fashion Council (AFC), a non-profit organisation looking to reshape and elevate fashion across the Arab region, has launched a new biennial fashion fund to support emerging designers and propel them into global brands. The AFC Fashion Fund has been designed as a four-season brand-building accelerator, where it will select one ready-to-wear designer every two years and invest 500,000 US dollars to scale their brand into a “globally recognised force”. “While most fashion funds offer a moment, the AFC Fashion Fund builds a movement -transforming designers into enduring global brands through a 360° framework,” explains the AFC in a statement. The chosen talent will embark on a two-year transformative journey, which will be "guided by global mentors, empowered by strategic market access, and supported by world-class production, retail, and media platforms". Arab Fashion Council launches 500,000 US dollar four-season brand-building accelerator This will include the AFC funding three fully produced catwalk shows, covering everything from casting and styling to content creation, public relations and social media amplification, as well as showroom representation in Paris during pre-season markets, aligning with the resort and pre-autumn calendars. In addition, designers will benefit from exclusive introductions to key buyers in strategic markets and integration into prominent retail networks and platforms across the GCC to develop bespoke e-commerce and digital marketing strategies to grow direct-to-consumer sales. The accelerator will also support tailored capsule collections, especially for key cultural moments like Ramadan and Eid in the Middle East. Alongside strengthening market reach within the Middle East, the accelerator will dedicate one season to support the emerging designer in an exclusive collaboration with a globally recognised brand to enhance the designer’s credibility and open up “significant commercial opportunities,” to position them for long-term success. Arab Fashion Council lauches fashion fund Credits: Arab Fashion Council AFC Fashion Fund to support emerging designers with catwalk shows, showrooms and mentoring The chosen designer will also receive mentorship and brand strategy from an elite board of industry-leading editors, investors, buyers, and creative visionaries, explains the AFC. The fund will offer business coaching, guidance on pricing and collection planning, and support on intellectual property to ensure designers grow "not just creatively, but strategically". Applications for the first cycle of the fund will open in June, with the winner announced in October. The selected designer will then begin their two-year journey, culminating in four catwalk seasons and global visibility by 2027. Mohammed Aqra, chief strategy officer of the Arab Fashion Council, said: “This is not a prize. It’s an evolution. The AFC Fashion Fund is about turning a promising designer into a sustainable, export-ready brand that carries the spirit of our region onto the global stage.” The Arab Fashion Council’s vision is to establish a comprehensive Arab fashion system, unifying the 22 Arab countries under a single umbrella, as it looks to reshape the fashion narrative in the region while elevating its designers, platforms, and economic power. The AFC Fashion Fund it adds further amplifies this mission “by transforming regional creativity into global competitiveness”. The fund will sit alongside Dubai Fashion Week, which the AFC co-founded with Dubai Design District (d3) to make it the official fashion week of Dubai to provide Arab brands with a platform.
The Arab Fashion Council (AFC), a non-profit organisation looking to reshape and elevate fashion across the Arab region, has launched a new biennial fashion fund to support emerging designers and propel them into global brands.
The AFC Fashion Fund has been designed as a four-season brand-building accelerator, where it will select one ready-to-wear designer every two years and invest 500,000 US dollars to scale their brand into a “globally recognised force”.
“While most fashion funds offer a moment, the AFC Fashion Fund builds a movement -transforming designers into enduring global brands through a 360° framework,” explains the AFC in a statement.
The chosen talent will embark on a two-year transformative journey, which will be "guided by global mentors, empowered by strategic market access, and supported by world-class production, retail, and media platforms".
Arab Fashion Council launches 500,000 US dollar four-season brand-building accelerator
This will include the AFC funding three fully produced catwalk shows, covering everything from casting and styling to content creation, public relations and social media amplification, as well as showroom representation in Paris during pre-season markets, aligning with the resort and pre-autumn calendars.
In addition, designers will benefit from exclusive introductions to key buyers in strategic markets and integration into prominent retail networks and platforms across the GCC to develop bespoke e-commerce and digital marketing strategies to grow direct-to-consumer sales.
The accelerator will also support tailored capsule collections, especially for key cultural moments like Ramadan and Eid in the Middle East.
Alongside strengthening market reach within the Middle East, the accelerator will dedicate one season to support the emerging designer in an exclusive collaboration with a globally recognised brand to enhance the designer’s credibility and open up “significant commercial opportunities,” to position them for long-term success.
AFC Fashion Fund to support emerging designers with catwalk shows, showrooms and mentoring
The chosen designer will also receive mentorship and brand strategy from an elite board of industry-leading editors, investors, buyers, and creative visionaries, explains the AFC. The fund will offer business coaching, guidance on pricing and collection planning, and support on intellectual property to ensure designers grow "not just creatively, but strategically".
Applications for the first cycle of the fund will open in June, with the winner announced in October. The selected designer will then begin their two-year journey, culminating in four catwalk seasons and global visibility by 2027.
Mohammed Aqra, chief strategy officer of the Arab Fashion Council, said: “This is not a prize. It’s an evolution. The AFC Fashion Fund is about turning a promising designer into a sustainable, export-ready brand that carries the spirit of our region onto the global stage.”
The Arab Fashion Council’s vision is to establish a comprehensive Arab fashion system, unifying the 22 Arab countries under a single umbrella, as it looks to reshape the fashion narrative in the region while elevating its designers, platforms, and economic power. The AFC Fashion Fund it adds further amplifies this mission “by transforming regional creativity into global competitiveness”.
The fund will sit alongside Dubai Fashion Week, which the AFC co-founded with Dubai Design District (d3) to make it the official fashion week of Dubai to provide Arab brands with a platform.
