DHL Exported 2014's Winning Designers

Winners of the inaugural DHL Exported were announced in London on May 27.

The four designers already well-established in their local markets won the opportunity to further their international growth plans by showing their collections at the world’s leading fashion week events.

Italy’s Francesa Liberatore will present her designs at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. Turkey's Hakaan Yildirium of Hakaan, will be showing at London Fashion Week, Henry Holland’s House of Holland will present at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Tokyo and the duo Nicholas and Christopher Kunz of Nicholas K from the US are heading to Milan Fashion Week.

DHL Exported is sponsoring a fully produced runway show for two consecutive seasons, along with covering the logistic costs of producing the collection and will ship the final looks to either New York, London, Milan or Tokyo.

“We are proud of the amount of applications we received and even more so about the collections’ quality and designers’ creativity, both proving the relevancy of the Program. Our juries in London, Milan, New York and Tokyo each had tough decisions to make and ultimately found some of the most talented designers out there. We’re confident to export their work with great success, supporting the designers’ journey at every step of the way”, said Arjan Sissing, Senior Vice President Corporate Brand Marketing, Deutsche Post DHL.

Jarrad Clark, VP Global Creative Director and panelist in each of the markets, went on to add “We had a tough task in choosing a winner for each of the markets; with such tremendous talent wishing to take their businesses abroad. For us it was about finding the right designers whose design aesthetic and businesses are ready to enter a new region. We needed to ensure they all have the proper infrastructure in place so that they are able to use their runway show and DHL’s logistic offering to its full potential. We moved forward designers who made a commitment to their own international growth over the course of the entire year, and not just at the individual shows.”

DHL and IMG Fashion received 150 applications from designers in 36 countries, each looking to break in to the global marketplace and present their collection in either New York, London, Milan or Tokyo. Designers were asked to choose the market where their businesses objectives foresee growth in. For each show, a committee of regional experts reviewed the applications and chose the designer that showed the most promise to succeed from the program.

The DHL Exported shows will take place in September 2014/February 2015 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, London Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week, as well as in October 2014/March 2015 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo.