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Ireland is the 25th member of the European Fashion Council

The preparatory European Fashion Summit in November 2016 for upcoming the 10th EFC jubilee

The project “European Fashion Rise” to mark the start of a long-term strategy for Support of young and emergency fashion designers


EFC Press / September 2016

By unanimous decision of the Presidential Board, the European Fashion Council announces with pleasure that IRELAND is the newest member of the Council for unified management of the fashion industry on the European continent. The country’s fashion industry of Ireland is presented by the Irish Fashion Council (IFC) – the national representative organization for fashion, which has been formed for the purpose of building, promoting and representing the Irish fashion brand: irishfashioncouncil.ie & facebook.com/irishfashioncouncil

For every country, which is involved in the Fashion Council of Europe, from eastern, northern, southern and central part of the continent, it was a great honor and privilege to accept Ireland in the united fashion society of Europe and thus achieve equal participation in decision-making with a more active role of the countries from Western Europe. This is hardly a surprise to those who closely follow the developments and the overall contribution of Ireland and Irish fashion industry over the years. Its role is in the emergence namely of the European Fashion Council – a fact about the active role of its establishment under the honor patronage of the European Union, represented by His Excellency Michael HUMPHREYS (Ireland) in his capacity as the EU Ambassador and Head of the European Commission in Bulgaria in 2006-2008.


MOHLICH Sonja, Founder and CEO of the Irish Fashion Council, is very excited about Ireland finally becoming part of the EFC. “We at the Irish Fashion Council are delighted to be associated with the European Fashion Council and we are looking forward to our role in helping to promote and develop the whole of the Irish fashion industry at home and overseas through our planned international seminars and our inaugural Irish Fashion Summit, Irish Fashion Week, Designers exchange and more”, explained MOHLICH. She believes that this will motivate more fashion professionals and creators to participate in the national fashion council of Ireland and as members of IFC to be an inalienable and active part from the European Fashion Council, so, as with all other EFC member states. “Therefore,” concluded CEO, “the Irish Fashion Council currently welcoming memberships from right across the Irish fashion spectrum including designers, photographers, make-up, hair, models, influencers, stylists, manufacturers, fashion retail producers, retailers, editors, illustrators, costume designers and beyond. It aims to grow as a global recognition of brand ‘Ireland’ within the Fashion Industry.”

The Irish Fashion Council is now officially registered in the Transparency Register of the European Union where the European Fashion Council was originally registered on January 15, 2010 and re-registered on 20th July 2016 as a Think Tank composed of the nationally representative fashion organizations of Europe: europeanfashioncouncil.eu

Mrs. Sonja MOHLICH, the CEO and Founder of the Irish Fashion Council (IFC)
Mrs. Sonja MOHLICH, the CEO and Founder of the Irish Fashion Council (IFC)

In connection with the upcoming celebration in May 2017 of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the European Fashion Council, an important focus of the management has received a proposal from the Balkan countries States, and in particular The National fashion chamber of Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria, also Czech Republic, Switzerland and another, to be held annual meeting of the Presidential Board, a preparatory to the upcoming anniversary. The implementation of this preparatory European Fashion Summit will be realized to achieve the main goal: the final choosing of the 25-members composition of the European Fashion Executive Board (EFEB) with a selection of President EFEB (identical as the European Commission for the EU), as well as retrospective of results achieved in the implementation of the Convention EU-UNESCO for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and preparing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the European NGO for fashion and fashion design.

The program at the upcoming Annual Presidential meeting will focus on current projects and future campaigns for the development of the fashion industry in Europe. It will put an important emphasis on copyright protection and management of intellectual property in fashion, connected with taking important decisions related to the use of the EFC trademark Fashion Week. An important event is scheduled for the last week of November 2016, hosted by the city of Plovdiv and Bulgaria/EU as city and country – current President of the EFC by the National Fashion Chamber of Bulgaria.
It also became clear that project “European Fashion Rise” has became the first project for execution of EFC pan-European activities. It will launch a long-term strategy to support young and emerging fashion designers on the continent.

The competition for young designers, which first edition will also take place during the last week of November 2016, has accepted a rotational method for selecting the next host country – it will be the country of the winning fashion designer (identical as the Euro vision contest). With participants from all over Europe, “European Fashion Rise” aims to unite further the national program and contests along with international action towards the development of young fashion talents from all member states. It is expected that the inaugural edition of the European Fashion Sunrise will attract new members to the EFC, which invites all European fashion NGOs personally.


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