It looks like Toronto Fashion Week as Canadian fashion watchers know it is no more.
IMG has reportedly pulled the plug on Toronto’s semi-annual fashion event, citing a lack of local support. The Canadian Press announced the shocking decision on Thursday.
"As we continue to evolve our portfolio of fashion events around the world, we've made the decision to no longer produce Toronto Fashion Week," Catherine Bennett, senior vice-president and managing director of IMG Fashion Events & Properties, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"We are constantly evaluating our fashion properties to make sure that they best meet the needs of designers and the industry — both locally and internationally — and we felt like the time had come to make a change in Toronto.
"We really felt that our Canadian fashion footprint was not generating the local commercial funding that we really required in order for us to continue producing the event to the highest standard that, really, the industry deserves and the designers in Toronto deserve," she added.
"We're sad to be moving on, but think it's the right decision and the right time to make it."
IMG Canada had operated Toronto Fashion Week since taking over the reins back in 2012. Previously the semi-annual event was owned and operated by the Fashion Design Council of Canada.
Also coming to an end? The much hyped Mercedes-Benz Start Up program for emerging Canadian designers. The much-needed program had a grand-prize package that included a $30,000 bursary and a fully produced runway show at Toronto Fashion Week for the winners.
Bennett expressed hope that another group will stage a fashion showcase in Toronto.
Troubling news for the Canadian fashion industry.
