U.S. Pima Cotton Promoted to the French Fashion Industry

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The Supima cotton group, with the support of the Office of Agricultural Affairs, hosted a fashion event at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Paris to showcase gowns made with U.S. Pima cotton.  The purpose of the event was to build brand identity for Supima and increase the use of U.S. Pima cotton in the French fashion industry.  The event was held at the beginning of French Fashion Week and resembled a traditional fashion show where clothing designs made exclusively from high-quality Pima cotton were presented.

For several years, Supima had been organizing a design competition among leading U.S. fashion universities during fashion week in New York with designs created by students exclusively for the event.  Our suggestion to have a follow-on event in Paris was appealing to Supima and planning for the event began over a year ago. 

The event showcased the collection of the competition’s winner Kate McKenna from Savannah College of Art and Design, along with the collections of the other six finalists, Karen Dang from the Academy of Art University, Leetal Platt from FIDM, Nnamdi Agum from FIT, Paige Meacham from Kent State University, Lauren Nahigian from Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, and Julia Han from RISD.  The designs of the seven finalists were displayed in the different salons of the Ambassador’s residence and by models in three ‘runway’ presentations.  A live sketch performance by Nicolas Ouchenir and DJ Cecile Togni entertained guests through the evening.

The U.S. Ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, welcomed approximately 300 attendees from the fashion industry, French society, and media, mainly from France and Italy.  American and other European media also attended, as well as representatives from French and other European fashion houses and retail buyers.  The Embassy Public Affairs section tweeted about the event and reported in the U.S. Embassy Paris official Facebook page.  Please watch the following video which is a recap of the event.

As a follow up to this event, Supima benefited from a great deal of media coverage.  To date, more than 15 outlets have covered the Paris Fashion Week presentation, resulting in more than 800,000 media impressions.  Notable coverage included Vanity Fair France, BeautyLaunchpad.com, LivingAveda.com and KentWired.com.