{"id":62987,"date":"2015-10-18T23:29:38","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T04:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=62987"},"modified":"2025-01-30T19:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:23:19","slug":"eye-on-the-prize-emerging-designers-vying-for-30000-in-mercedes-benz-start-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/10\/18\/eye-on-the-prize-emerging-designers-vying-for-30000-in-mercedes-benz-start-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye on the prize: Emerging designers vying for $30,000 in Mercedes Benz Start Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo from Mercedes-Benz Start Up’s website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2013 Six emerging Canadian labels will be vying for the top prize at Mercedes-Benz Start Up, an annual contest for up-and-coming homegrown talents.<\/p>\n

They’re competing for a lucrative prize package which includes a $30,000 bursary and a fully produced runway show during at Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week next March.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the designers heading to the runway for the competition finale on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Designer: Nikki Wirthensohn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: Narces<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Toronto<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cIt\u2019s an eveningwear line that specializes in special occasion… but at the same time it\u2019s meant to suit the different lifestyles of a confident, strong, sensual woman and really fit into their multifaceted lifestyles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: Wirthensohn has already established a red carpet presence, with \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) among those seen in her creations.<\/p>\n

The designer is hoping to be able to direct part of her potential winnings to helping broaden exposure for Narces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do find our growth has come from our dresses being at certain events, on certain people. That gets the word out in terms of our line and it gets the recognition. At this point we need to further that. This will give us an opportunity for us to actually have a team on the ground when we are doing PR for a red carpet that we can make those changes…<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other part that we see that\u2019s going to be important for us is our online business to really make an upgrade to our online platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designers: Jose Manuel St-Jacques and Simon Belanger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: UNTTLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Montreal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cWe\u2019ve got key words that we hang onto,\u201d said Belanger. \u201cUnique, personality, some sense of craftmanship and a sense of history of where we come from and where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: \u201cHere in Quebec, we have a good following, but we\u2019re trying to grow our business within all of Canada,\u201d said Belanger. \u201cWe just got an agent in Toronto, and with part of the money what we would like to do is organize trunk shows with retailers that we\u2019d like to partner with in the rest of Canada…<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like really to open a boutique our own store so that we can do some direct selling because for designers it\u2019s very difficult to survive only on wholesale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designer: Spencer Badu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: S.P. Badu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: From Toronto, but attending school in Calgary<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cI\u2019d say there\u2019s a futuristic, minimalist approach to it,\u201d Badu said of his unisex label. \u201cWe like to focus on detail, but the main idea of the brand is to corrupt the conservative connotation of gender and perception of how a man or woman can dress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: \u201cBeing an emerging brand, there\u2019s a lot of things that money factors into in terms of creation and reproduction and employees and equipment; so that money could just help elevate everything we\u2019re currently doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently I\u2019m in school, so the first thing would be a space to work out of. And then I would say production is the most important thing for us. It really comes down to the clothes.<\/p>\n

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\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s mainly me. I do everything from pattern drafting to sewing samples to sketching and designing,\u201d he added. \u201cI have people to help me out here and there, but when I graduate, I\u2019m going to be looking to expand the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designer: Daniel Beaudet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: Leinad Beaudet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Montreal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cEccentric minimalism,\u201d said Beaudet. \u201c The whole background or core of my collection the starting point is always related to Quebec because I live in Quebec… And it always plays on our history, our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: \u201cI want to use a part of it to participate in a trade show in New York. That\u2019s my biggest ambition. For the rest, I\u2019d like to use it to create a financial cushion, to have a bigger line of credit and help get future investment and financing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designer: Laura Siegel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: Laura Siegel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Toronto<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cI collaborate with artisans in rural villages around the world to sustain culture through craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: \u201cWe don\u2019t have any funds to spend on marketing right now, so that would be great. But at the same time, things are looking good for our spring-summer \u201816 orders, so I guess we\u2019ll probably need that to go towards production because that’s going to be larger than it usually is, which is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designers: Chloe and Parris Gordon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Label: Beaufille<\/strong><\/p>\n

Location: Toronto<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their line in a line: \u201cOur brand Beaufille means \u2018handsome girl,\u2019 and it\u2019s a line about the cross between masculine and feminine, hard and soft, edgy and romantic. We try to encapsulate that ethos in everything we make,\u201d said Parris of the sister duo’s made-in-Canada collection.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause both of our backgrounds are kind of different \u2013 Parris being in jewelry design and metalsmithing, and myself textiles and fashion \u2013 we always wanted to merge those two and have evidence of decoration or metal or hardware on the garments to tie the two collections together,\u201d added Chloe.<\/p>\n

Plans for the prize: \u201cWithin Canada, there\u2019s not a lot of funding for the arts period, especially with fashion.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a struggle for any Canadian designer to have enough cash flow to stay afloat,\u201d said Chloe.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019ve had a really good year in terms of sales and getting a lot of new doors on board. Part of that money would really help us be able to facilitate those orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, it just goes back into the cash flow for a business like ours. For what we do as well, we have to spend money on production about six to eight months before ever receiving it back from the store. That\u2019s definitely something any new business needs and something we definitely need because we\u2019re definitely in the growth period of our business. For us right now, the cash is pretty essential to even just continuing what we\u2019ve started.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 Six emerging Canadian labels will be vying for the top prize at Mercedes-Benz Start Up, an annual contest …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":62988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-62987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fashion-and-beauty","tag-original","mauthors-lauren-la-rose","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287099,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62987\/revisions\/287099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}