The work of 37 Finnish designers is being brought to New York City by Paloni, a company that represents and sells designers' pieces from around the world.
Paloni has a pop-up store at Finnish designer Paola Suhonen’s Ivana Helsinki NYC Concept Store. Here designers can benefit from the high-profile guests expected at Ivana Helsinki’s fashion show and after-party. Around 500 VIP-guests – all of them fashion and media-professionals – have been invited to the event.
“These kinds of events offer designers great opportunities, but these are not exploited enough in Finland. International fashion weeks are taking place around the world. People gather there, and this should be taken advantage of,” comments Paloni CEO Minna Särelä.
While Paloni represents the work of 80 designers from different parts of the world, the New York project focuses on Finnish fashion, design and handicrafts.
As such, the pop-up store offers Finnish designers a platform for making an international breakthrough.
“You just have to believe in your skill and present it with pride,” Särelä advises.
PaaPii's big opportunity?
One of the companies with items on show is PaaPii Design, which makes textiles and printed products designed by Anniina Isokangas from Alaveteli. The company has taken off in the past few years, now boasting retailers in different parts of the world, including Iceland, France and England.
For a relatively small venture such as PaaPii Design, going to New York involves lots of work – figuring out export regulations, insurances and other such details. However, for Isokangas Fashion Week is worth all the trouble.
“I hope something comes out of it, though I haven’t thought about it in great detail. It would have been stupid to refuse such an opportunity,” Isokangas muses.