New York, Paris, Milan… Miami?

Anyone who pays attention to anything knows the orbits around which the fashion world revolves. New York, Paris, and Milan have long been the places where designers have been showcasing brands to attract buyers and to position themselves on the world stage. There’s no reason to believe that this will change anytime soon. The question is not if any of these places will be replaced as fashion centers because that’s highly unlikely. Rather, one may still ask if other places can rise to the occasion and join their ranks in the world of fashion. Miami perhaps?

In many ways, Miami has rapidly become a world destination for technology, finance, innovation, art, and design, shaking off somewhat (though not abandoning) its longstanding reputation as a social location and hospitality center. Fashion may be the next frontier for a city that is attracting industries and creative individuals at breakneck speed.

To some degree, the ball is already rolling in that direction, starting naturally with individual designers themselves. Working with these designers is Sapia Simone, who founded Miami Fashion Incubator three years ago, having spent more than ten years consulting with fashion start-ups. “Basically, we build brands from scratch,” she explains. “We do branding, design, supervise manufacturing and production. We also develop launching and distribution strategies for any start up fashion brand.”

An Italian herself, her expertise in this field comes from managing her own swimwear/resortwear brand (“Sapia Simone”) for 15 years with distribution in Europe, the United States, and mainly in Dubai, where she lived for eleven years. She also teaches product development at Istituto Marangoni in the Design District.

She sees Miami awakening to the fashion market in recent years, while acknowledging that some work still needs to be done to fine tune the city’s sense of style apart from a general gravitation to luxury brands. Between her work at Miami Fashion Incubator and the general approach of Istituto Marangoni, she sees great potential here.

“It won’t take off by itself,” she elaborates. “We need to have the right kinds of events and runway shows to cultivate a fashion culture here, but there are talented designers coming to Miami from Central and South America so the potential is there. Buyers don’t yet come to Miami like they do to New York, but if the Miami fashion community can work together to promote these designers and build these brands, that may change over time.”

Miami seems well positioned to emerge as a significant player in the fashion sphere. If everything comes together, it most certainly will.

For more information about Miami Fashion Incubator, visit miamifashionincubator.com.