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Co-producers of last year’s Fashion Week are now competitors.

Tel Aviv will be hosting two different Fashion Weeks in November, following a split between the event’s two original organizers.

Last week, the producer of the original Israeli Fashion Week, Moti Reif, withdrew from the event following disagreements with his partner in last year’s production, Ofir Lev.

Last year the two put on the fashion exhibition following a 20-year hiatus. Israel Fashion Week-Gindi Tel Aviv will take place from November 26 to 28 in the Gindi wholesale market complex in south Tel Aviv, its organizers announced on Monday, while the original Israel Fashion Week will be held at the same venue as last year, Hatachana, in south Tel Aviv from November 11 to November 13.

Among the fashion houses slated to take part in the Gindi event will be Dorin Frankfurt, Sasson Kedem, Dorit Bar Or, Shai Shalom and Gideon and Karen Oberson. Among the designers taking part in Lev’s event are Liora Taragan and Shenkar College of Engineering and Design graduates including Mark Goldenberg. Lev also confirmed that Rossella Jardini, head of the Italian fashion house Moschino, will present its 2013 spring-summer collection at the event.

Both Reif and Lev told Haaretz that they were concerned over the future of the fashion industry following the split. “This is a badge of shame for us,” Lev said, although he added that he sees no problem in both events taking place in the same month in the same city. However, a major concern is that government bodies such as the Export Institute or the Tourism Ministry will cancel their participation in future events due to such bickering between organizers, which would indeed be a blow to the local industry.

Still, something positive might emerge from the situation. Most of the established fashion houses are close to Reif and several followed him to the Gindi event, while Lev’s event will be devoted mostly to young designers who did not receive exposure in last year’s Lev-Reif Fashion Week.

Haaretz has learned that Gindi Holdings will be footing the bill for most of Reif’s event and that participants’ fees will be earmarked for scholarships for fashion students.

Lev’s representatives declined to reveal the names of buyers who would be attending his event since they said negotiations were still underway. However, Lev himself confirmed that the president of the Italian buyers’ association, Beppe Angiolini, would be attending, “not to buy but to see what is happening in Israel.”

It is not yet known whether Reif will be inviting buyers from abroad; however, one of the designers participating in his event said that in any case, “it is impossible to take orders for the spring-summer 2013 collection at the end of November. By this time they should be working on production of the collection.”

Lev said that orders were not the focus at this stage but rather making connections with international buyers, which took time and patience. “It is ridiculous for people to expect results in a year or two,” he said.

Source: Haaretz.com

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