Georgia Alice Wins DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship

Georgia Alice has been announced as the winner of the seventh annual DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship supported by DHL New Zealand.

Georgia Alice Currie, founder of New Zealand fashion brand Georgia Alice, was awarded the $10,000 DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship for 2014, establishing herself as New Zealand’s top emerging fashion exporter. Though her brand was first established in Auckland in 2012, Currie has seen her business gain a lot of media attention with features in Australian Vogue, Australian Elle, Russh, Oyster and on international blog The Man Repeller.

With a strong focus on online that includes targeting bloggers and implementing an Instagram campaign with fashion photographer Steve Tilley that featured polaroid shots of her garments, Currie’s business strategy has paid off quickly with overseas clients. Now in her fifth season, Currie boasts 24 stockists worldwide, including New York and LA.

In its seventh year, the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship is designed to identify New Zealand’s hottest up-and-coming fashion exporters and assist them in achieving international growth. The scholarship paves the way for Georgia Alice to make an even greater impact on the global fashion scene.

“Georgia Alice is on a fast trajectory and she needs support at this crucial point to help catapult her on to an international level. She has a strategy and a vision, and the reception she’s getting is hugely exciting,” said judge Megan Wildermoth, fashion and textiles specialist at DHL.

The scholarship has become an early identifier of young talent in New Zealand, with previous winners such as Stolen Girlfriends Club, Lonely Hearts, twentysevennames and I Love Ugly going on to significant international recognition.

In a first for the competition, inaugural winner Dan Gosling, director and part owner of Stolen Girlfriends Club, returned to the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship as a judge.

“The momentum Georgia’s receiving reminds me of what it was like at the beginning with Stolen Girlfriends Club. She’s definitely at the tipping point in terms of her brand. But at the heart of it her collections are strong – you can tell if a garment is a Georgia Alice piece. I could see her being the next Karen Walker,” Gosling said.

After winning the scholarship, Currie said: “I am beyond thrilled to have been awarded the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship. Georgia Alice currently has stockists throughout Australasia and North America, and over the next 12 months with the amazing additional support from DHL, Georgia Alice will be able to confidently continue to export and maintain growth internationally. I am overwhelmed that my brand has been selected and so excited for the future. A huge thank you to the judges who saw the potential in my brand, and of course to every girl out there wearing Georgia Alice.”