Collingwood Fashion Week
Events and festivals are one of the priorities of the Collingwood Downtown BIA in order to drive traffic to the core area. Although statistics indicate that 60% to 70% of the retail trade in our downtown is generated from the local/regional market, tourism visitation continues to be a major economic driver for the downtown core. Throughout the years the BIA has undertaken several initiatives that highlight and support the strong arts and culture and culinary sectors in our historic downtown. The independent fashion and beauty sector is one that is strong in our downtown, with unique offerings that we know are supported by not only the regional population, but are a draw to the tourist market. This event was designed to highlight this sector, while connecting them through the programming to the arts and culinary businesses.
It was scheduled in the fall season, when there is travel to the area for outdoor experiences and colour tours, but provided incentive for the visitor to discover all that the downtown core has to offer. The focus on mid-week was also designed to build visitation during off-peak timeframes.
This event was first presented in 2021, however on a much smaller scale due to changing COVID restrictions, which did not permit the staging of the key signature events – the Launch party and the Fashion Show Gala. As the event grew ith capacity numbers increased at all in-store events, these two signature events were presented and sold out.