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European Fashion Council celebrates 8 years, launches “European Fashion Capital” initiative

GERMANY and SWITZERLAND are the newest members of the Presidential Board for global fashion management. With the newly associated MONTENEGRO and F.Y.R. MACEDONIA, the European Fashion Council unites 24 countries.

FASHION WEEK ZONE and LEGAL Committee are created for legal production of Fashion Week events.

Rotating European Presidency and European Fashion Executive Board (EFEB) change the structure of the organisation for the new programme “Fashion HORIZON 2030”.


EFC Press / May 20, 2015

19th of May, 2015, officially entered in the holiday calendar of the European fashion community, represented by the official non-governmental organization of the European Union and Europe called the European Fashion Council (EFC). This date is related to the establishment of the organisation 8 years ago in Ancient Plovdiv, Bulgaria/EU, when 11 countries marked the beginning of the unification for the creation of a stylish and creative Fashion Europe, which is now comprised of 24 member states. Thus, each year, along with the celebration of the anniversary, new activities and initiatives, dictated by the successful path of development of the organisation in public benefit, are launched.


European Fashion Council 2015 map

“European Fashion Capital” is a proposal by Bulgaria, which was unanimously supported on this year’s General Assembly of the EFC. It was supplemented with the wonderful proposal by Germany for European Fashion Ambassadors of Top designers and models, who will be joined by fashion photographers, media, make-up artists, hairstylists, merchandisers and producers from each country. The format of the selection, criteria and regulation will be identical to the ones of the “European Capital of Culture” so it can, together with the respective 2 European municipalities-rotating hosts, proudly bear the designation of European Fashion Capital. Invitations have already been sent to the respective European institutions for partnership and synergy in this prestigious initiative, whose proportions are expected to surpass those of the cultural capitals of Europe. The full composition of the Initiative Committee and the Nominations of the hosting municipalities will be announced by October, 2015, when we will also find out why and which city will be the first legally chosen European fashion capital, as well as those until 2020.

Many perceive this idea as an innovative development of the already established format for selection of the host city for capital of culture. Researches and surveys of the public opinion on the influence of fashion on the general public show that the format of “European Fashion Capital” is very likely to outperform the parallel format already in its very beginning. That is because fashion unites everyone in a European “Union of arts and ideas” just like the slogan of the European Fashion Council. Precisely because of these reasons the EFC developed and supplemented the infamous “Fashion Europe” programme, prepared and adopted in support of the “Europe 2020” strategy of the European Commission. From 157, the number of activities in the programme increased to 249, all related to fashion and the other creative industries, under a new name and scale – European programme “Fashion HORIZON 2030”.

These actions are in implementation of the EU-UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. In 2012 the EFC received the high trust to be eligible for it as the only fashion organisation in the world, representing the European Union in this policy. These actions are also in unison with the preparatory activities for the long-term financing of the European economy, for which the EFC is also approved and included in the Summary Report 2014 of the EU for its conceptual project “Fashion Week” in strategic partnerships for card payments.

The enormous responsibility, related to the implementation of the above-presented actions, lead the General Assembly of the EFC to take a unanimous decision for the creation of a European Fashion Executive Board (EFEB). It logically changes the structure of the management of the EFC and will have the identical role of the European Commission regarding the executive actions of all activities, envisaged in the fashion programme.

The management of the EFC also encompasses a change- rotating 6-months-long presidencies of the organisations, representing the member states, while the President of the EFC will remain with status and rights, identical to how the Council of the European Union and the Council of Europe are managed.

FASHION WEEK ZONE was created for legal production of European Fashion Week events. Its President was chosen to be Mrs. Amela RADAN, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who is also President of the Sarajevo Fashion Week and one of the 11 founders of the EFC. The Fashion Week Zone is a public organisational structure of the EFC Member States that are holders and managers of the united European licence for legal production of Fashion Week events on the territory of the EU and Europe.
Their full protection will be provided by one of the largest and most reputable law firms in Europe – Office FREYLINGER, Luxembourg, defender of the symbols and intellectual property of the Council of Europe and the EU, as well as of the EFC. In 2011 the EFC was authorised and since then proudly bears the united European identity of the logo with the stars on blue background. The activity of the member states, participating in the Fashion Week Zone, will also be legally assisted by the newly formed LEGAL Committee of the EFC, whose Chair was chosen to be Mr. Matteo PORETTI, a lawyer from Switzerland and Vice President of the National Chamber of Swiss Fashion.

Here is where we would like to proudly note the accession of GERMANY, represented by the Association of German Fashion and textile Designers (www.vdmd.de) with CEO Mrs. Mara MICHEL and President Mr. Rene LANG, as well as the accession of SWITZERLAND through the National Chamber of Swiss Fashion with President Mr. Franco TARANTO, to the Presidential Board of the European Fashion Council for global fashion management.

Also, with the newly associated MONTENEGRO, represented by the National Fashion Chamber of Montenegro with President Mr. Srdja LUBARDA and F.Y.R.MACEDONIA, represented by the Macedonian Fashion Association “Macedonian Fashion Cluster” with President Mrs. Svetlana BOGOVA-JOVANOVSKA, the European Fashion Council now unites 24 countries from the European Union and Europe.

The development of the united representation of the European fashion industry is definitely a fact, which is noted by investors, media, politicians, public figures and all connoisseurs of fashion not only in Europe, but on global level as well. This also dictated the start of the activity of an INVESTMENT Board, comprised of 7 member states (Romania, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Serbia). This Board, together with the President of the EFC Ms. Nadya VALEVA (Bulgaria), the President of the Fashion Week Zone Mrs. Amela RADAN (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the Chair of the Legal Committee Mr. Matteo PORETTI (Switzerland) and the instructions and participation of a legal representative of Office FREYLINGER, Luxembourg, opened the procedures for negotiations, which have already started with the first stakeholders – legal entities and individuals, who have so far declared strong interest to the EFC and its development.


EFC Press Editor
E-mail: press@europeanfashioncouncil.eu
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