Entrepreneurs from all walks of life came to witness, participate, compete via the core training, coaching and pure inspiration of innovative ideas and big dreams! While all teams that were contesting had very interesting presentations there was ONE team that sought to stand out with their passion! Yes a passion for fashion!
For far too long local designers from the beautiful Republic of Trinidad and Tobago have fought with problems in the fashion industry. Every year the Caribbean Fashion Academy at the University of Trinidad and Tobago turns out many talented and creative graduates some who move forward as icons. However, not every designer can afford the time and cost to do so. Also, there was never a local avenue to do this. Well I guess after last week’s first ever StartUp Weekend Trinidad and Tobago designers and fashionistas can finally breathe a sigh of relief! A team made up of fashion designers, a travel consultant, IT Developers,an Aesthetician, an entrepreneur and a tourism enthusiast made a dream come true. They are Carib-E Couture and they wrote history on Trinidad and Tobago’s Fashion Industry timeline yesterday!
Carib-E Couture’s intention is to brand Trinidad and Tobago as the premier fashion destination in the Caribbean by promoting fashion tourism via an online platform. They offered an online e- commerce site as a portal that will promote and sell the products of local fashion designers in Trinidad and Tobago. They aim to be reputable brand ambassadors for established and emerging designers at a subscription cost that is more reasonable than the average hired web designer. They also arrange advertising packages for their clients. Already they had 5 committed designers who wanted to be part of this portal and as word spread via their facebook page the requests and likes kept coming in quickly! Within 2 hours of launching their page interested designers as far as Canada, Mexico and of course the Lesser Antilles. Carib-E Couture essentially solved the designers’ problems of branding identity, brand visibility and profitability. They had only 3 days to “make it work” as Tim Gunn would say in true Project Runway style!
Although, Carib-E Couture did not place at StartUp Weekend Trinidad and Tobago the passion of their final day presentation delivery sealed a deal sweeter than any other report card. Team members established new friendships and some of them opened their eyes and hearts to fashion in a whole new dimension. There was even a sales pitch geared towards a credit package for any purchase on their site via the premier travel consultancy firm in the Caribbean, Emerge Travel. It is without a doubt that StartUp Weekend’s slogan “No Talk and All Action!” complemented their victory in the fashion history of Trinidad and Tobago and planted the promising seed of hope for the future. It is their vision to build upon this infrastructure and create the right environment for their favourite fashion tourism destination, Trinidad and Tobago.
Catch them on the web at
http://www.trinidadcouture.com/
http://www.facebook.com/CaribECouture?fref=ts
