Chloe Comme Parris. Juma. Amanda Lew Kee. Klaxon Howl. Label. Sid Neigum. Thomas. Cara Cheung. Laura Siegel. Travis Taddeo. The Fashion Collective is responsible for some of the brightest young talents in Canadian fashion and now, depending on who you ask, things might be on the rocks.
Since 2010, Kate Mullin, Dwayne Kennedy, and Brian Richards have been the industry players behind The Fashion Collective– a creative production and management group that represents new and emerging Canadian designers. Mel Ashcroft joined the team last December. After just two years in business, they’re a Fashion Week powerhouse (about one fifth of the schedule), founders of the DIScONNECT fashion film festival, and responsible for bringing Rad Hourani back to Canada.
“We’re definitely disbanded,” says Mullin. “At this point in time, I’m moving in a different direction than Brian, Dwayne, and Mel Ashcroft are trying to go in.”
Not according to Kennedy and Richards. “Mel, Brian, and myself are continuing to work with all the designers. The Fashion Collective has not disbanded. After this last season, it was mutually agreed upon that Kate would no longer be working with us anymore,” says Kennedy.
“Over the last four seasons we were kind of these amateurs that had to maintain a façade of knowing everything and, as the seasons went on, some of us grew into that façade where we know what we’re doing, and some did not… that’s where you get separate ways,” adds Richards.
Mullin will go her own way and reports that she’ll continue to represent several designers independently, including Juma, Laura Seigel, and Cara Cheung. “I’m just rebranding and trying to do it pretty fast,” she says.
Except when I speak with Kennedy and Richards, it’s at a photo shoot for Cheung’s new lookbook. “The designers are always free to do whatever the like. If the designers want to work with Kate in that capacity, then by all means it’s up to them, however we’re going to strongly suggest that they contact a PR agency,” says Kennedy.
Mullin tells me that the trio’s breakup also means the end of The Fashion Collective’s partnership with the Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC) and Fashion Week. “At this point in time, I believe Robin Kay has said she wants nothing to do with The Fashion Collective,” says Mullin. “I think she’s taking a step back, because the three of us are TBD on what’s going to happen.” She adds that any of the co-founders can still be hired by individual designers to coordinate shows separately.
Again, Richards tells me otherwise, “As far as the FDCC, our relationship’s completely fine with them… To be honest, we just brought them one of the hottest rosters of designers they’ve ever had, including Rad Hourani.”
The whole debacle basically comes down to the question of who founded The Fashion Collective and who retains the rights to its name, logo, and other brand materials. “Because the idea is one that Brian, Dwayne, and myself started and built… it will have to come down to trademarking and legal sort of things. We’re not wanting to go to court. Obviously I really love and care for Dwayne and Brian, so we’re trying to figure this out as best we can,” says Mullin.
Richards counters with a markedly different version of events. “I think sometimes the origin story of The Fashion Collective is mixed up and people forget that it actually started with Dwayne and myself producing Thomas in 2009. It started with one show offsite and it was dubbed a ‘Fashion Collective’ presentation. And from that point in time, we recruited Kate and moved ahead with the FDCC,” he says. “The name and concept of The Fashion Collective precedes Kate.”
Kennedy and Richards plan to move forward with the collective that they believe is, and was, always theirs. “The truth is we’re the ones who started it and we’re going to die with it,” says Richards.
“You can find the documentation,” adds Kennedy. “We’re sticking with The Fashion Collective… I think our team is the strongest it has ever been.”
However, the boys are prepared in case a name change is necessary. “In the event that this whole process begins to distract us from what we do, we have a contingency plan along with a whole marketing strategy,” says Richards.
Whatever the outcome of The Fashion Collective’s growing pains, one thing’s for sure, all three parties are proud of what they’ve achieved. “I think that we did an amazing job together. I think that we all built a beautiful portfolio, and I think that we helped uplift and catapult some new talent and established talent in Canada,” says Mullin.
Mullin leaves some advice for the next generation of industry upstarts. “Seek organizations like TFI that have programs in place that can help you build a business plan because, at the end of the day, if you don’t have a business plan then you’ll probably end up doing it the way I did it,” laughs Mullin.
(Photo by Jaclyn Locke)
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Sabrina Maddeaux is Toronto Standard’s style editor. Follow her on Twitter at @sabrinamaddeaux.
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