Dunedin Fashion incubator client adviser Ross Gamble and
manager Tracy Kennedy at the incubator on the Otago
Polytechnic campus. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
The Dunedin Fashion Incubator has a new home, a new
manager and a new plan for nurturing fashion businesses during
the recession.
The incubator, which opened in 2001, moved last year from the
Upstart building in Princes St to a new home at the Otago
Polytechnic campus, where it falls under the umbrella of the
Otago Institute of Design.
Upstart will remain a major backer of the incubator until the
end of 2010, but a new incubator team is looking to build on
and change how it is run.
The three people given the role of running the incubator have
all had a long background in the fashion industry.
Otago polytechnic school of fashion lecturer Tracy Kennedy is
the manager of the incubator. Ms Kennedy has taught at the
fashion school for 10 years and will continue to teach,
albeit on a contract-like basis. She has in the past had her
own knitwear label and worked as a designer for Tamahine
Knitwear.
Ross Gamble and Annette Cadogan will advise incubator clients
on how they can improve their businesses.
Mr Gamble was involved for many years with Tamahine Knitwear
in design, marketing and sales, before becoming chief
executive. He is also a member of the iD Dunedin committee
which organises the annual fashion week in the city.
Ms Cadogan is a lecturer at the school of fashion. She
specialises in pattern-making, construction and design. She
joined the incubator in 2008 to teach workshops in the region
and also has her own successful fashion label, Iris.
Ms Kennedy said the first role of the new team at the
incubator would be to contact existing clients who used the
services of the incubator through Outreach and then work on
getting new people in who needed help with their fashion
business.
The team was looking to expand the services offered by the
previous incubator to include jewellery, accessories and
other fashion ideas, as well as apparel. She said the
incubator now had a privileged position in that it could call
on the resources and expertise of both the polytechnic and
the University of Otago.
"It is an exciting transition," she said.
Being at the polytechnic also meant people who came to the
incubator for help could also be guided into further
education.
- sarah.harvey@odt.co.nz
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