Speech for the Fashion Industry Awards of South Africa (FIASA)
27 November 2024
Good Evening.
I just want to give a huge acknowledgement to the Fashion Industry Awards of South Africa (FIASA) team first and foremost.
The Winners today of the Fashion Industry Awards.
SABC 3 and the City of Joburg Municipality for coming on board and their continued support with the emerging creatives programme that they have and FIASA managed to bringit on board to the Awards and the Fashion Platform that they offer to the future fashion designers. I cannot stress enough the importance of Mentorship which plays a huge role in the designers future which is core to programme.
The Department has been partners with the Fashion Forum since 2020, when Covid-19 was rife and I mean in that first year when FIASA was launched and ever since the trajectory of the programme has been spiraling upwards as they are managing to deliver these Awards so spectacularly ever since. We are in our fourth year of our partneship.
You just witnessed the sheer beauty and grace of the Fashion Industry Awards, the awards have proved itself a worthy programme and as DSAC we are proud partnering sponsors of.
The Fashion Industry Awards have given an opportunity for the industry to showcase and recognise the champions of the industry and as a country celebrating a number of things, one being the 30years of Democracy and the Theme being 30years of Fashion. This is thus deemed as an important part of growing our creative economy as the winners come from the entire value chain of the South African Fashion space. It is with this understanding that the Department is glad to be a partners and an associate to FIASA as it has managed to open other possible avenues for the recognized and unrecognized creatives, and the Department is a proud associates.
Whilst on that, I am certainly delighted that this year’s programme dwelled deeper and with the assistance of what was presented by Shaldon Kopman, who was one of the adjudicators and I certaintly see growth in the Industry.
Such initiates should be noted that they vital to growing our creative economy. Through the talent showcased today, nation-building and national pride through cultural expressions has been witnessed.
Over the past year, the Awards have gained a reputation amongst industry players, fashion institutions and training facilities as a benchmark for excellence, innovation, and technical skills. FIASA is about excellence, recognition, and empowerment in the sector. The Department is also going through some changes, and we intend to do more for the sectors that we are responsible for. Our aim is to provide economic stimulation to support sector initiatives that create jobs in the creative and cultural sectors and through a number of initiatives like the MGE which is currently open and closes on the 06th of December 2024. Please do visit our website, social media platforms for more information.
I wish to congratulate this year’s Highly Commended Winners who received their prizes.
Continue the excellent work and being a fabulous talent for the country.
I Thank you.
