COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ (CFW): The 13th Anniversary Business of Fashion Tour

"…on a Mission TO BUILD AN ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE & RESPECTED FASHION INDUSTRY FOR COLORADO™…”

COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ (CFW) …//

• is a digital-first Business of Fashion Venture Studio founded in 2011 by Justice Kwesi Kwarteng, MFA, a Consultant and Talent Coach.

The CFW VISION…//
• To Position the Colorado, and the City of Denver as an emerging Fashion Capital of the Rocky Mountain West Region.

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The CFW’S ORIGIN STORY…//

• CFW’s Founder, Justice Kwesi Kwarteng, was invited to attend a Dennis Basso Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) by the Creator of the storied Event, Fern Mallis.

• Informed by his direct experience at NYFW, and after meeting Fern Mallis (mere seconds after the Dennis Basso Presentation at Lincoln Center in New York), Justice was inspired to emulate Fern’s footsteps by creating one centralized and professionally organized Fashion Trade and Public Marketing Event for the beautiful Centennial State that is Colorado.

After months of research and working around the clock to garner support from local government entities, fashion organizations, and key players in the Fashion Beauty, and Media Communities, Justice with a small band of passionate interns, volunteers, and sponsors launched COLORADO FASHION WEEK in the lobby of the Temple Buell Theater at Denver Center for the Performing Arts (Colorado’s version of New York’s Lincoln Center where it all began for him).

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  • “What gave me the courage to pull off such a crazy and ambitious vision for COLORADO’S version of what Fern had successfully in 1993 through her Seventh on Sixth vision (and later NYFW) was the fact that after the show was over, with likely members of the Press, Celebrities and powers that be in Fashion waiting on her, Fern found me to say ‘Hi’ before she went backstage. She made me feel seen and that experience made me feel I could do anything. I came back home to COLORADO quietly determined to build something that would one-day rival NYFW and help elevate COLORADO’S presence in the global Fashion economy, “ —Justice Kwesi Kwarteng, MFA: Founder of CFW on something of his experience of creating COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ //

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CFW’s INTENT and PURPOSE…//
To positively improve the Quality of Life of every Fashion Designer and/or Brand we come into with as an organization.

Our GOALS… //

• To Recruit, Guide, and Launch the careers of the most promising emerging Global Fashion Talent and Brands.

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CFW: SINCE 2011…//

CFW INTRODUCESCO FASHION WEEK™’ (COFW™) as it’s OFFICIAL VENTURE STUDIO:
• In 2015, CFW will formally introduce its original digital-first Business of Fashion vision as an in-house boutique Venture Studio and Private Startup Lab.

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UNDERSTANDING WHAT A VENTURE STUDIO IS AND DOES…//

+ A Venture Studio primarily exists to solve problems through an often private in-house Startup Lab business model structure.

  • By introducing ‘COFW™, CFW now got the opportunity to design practical BUSINESS Fashion solutions for the larger CFW Brand and its list of private Clients, Partners, and Collaborators.

    —//

COLORADO FASHION WEEK: Phase One —The RUNWAY PRESENTATIONS YEARS: 2011-2016…//

  • As a VENTURE STUDIO, we needed an approachable Go-to-Market Strategy as a way to introduce our Vision. To do this, we settled on the usual traditional Runway presentation format common to all Fashion Weeks.

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NUMBER OF DESIGNERS FOR CFW SEASON ONE: SEPTEMBER 2011…//

  • During our inaugural 2011 Season, we presented 8 Fashion Designers and 1 Boutique that saw over 225 garments going down the CFW Runway;

NUMBER OF GARMENTS WE SENT DOWN THE RUNWAY FOR CFW SEASON ONE: SEPTEMBER 2011…//

  • We had the honor of receiving over 1,200 attendees throughout the week of SEPTEMBER 27TH-OCTOBER 3RD, 2011 at the Buelle Theater of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) in Downtown Denver, Colorado.

    FOR CFW SEASON TWO: (OCTOBER 1-7, 2012)…//

  • We successfully introduced our first National Brand, Mai Couture, an innovative makeup startup brand, to the Colorado Fashion and beauty market in 2012.

    COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ RECEIVES A PROCLAMATION FROM GOVERNOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER…//

  • With only a year into our existence, we received an official Proclamation from the State of Colorado, designating October 1-7, 2012 as COLORADO FASHION WEEK, a recognition that positively impacted our strategic vision as an organization.

    [ CFW SEASON THREE: ( OCTOBER 1-7, 2014)…

  • After a sold-out 2014-2015 Season at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel Denver, COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ began a slow pivot from its traditional Week-Long public phasing Runway Presentations format into a digital-first Business of Fashion Venture Studio.


  • [ CFW SEASON FOUR: (OCTOBER 1-7, 2015) — THE PIVOT CONTINUES…]
    • After a full year from our last Runway Show, CFW will continue its slow move into a full-scale digital-first Business of Fashion Venture Studio focused on INVITE-ONLY Presentations for hand-picked Emerging Fashion Designers, Brands, and Clients.

    —//

    SOME KEY SPONSORS & UNDERWRITERS SINCE 2011…//

  • Past Sponsors and Strategic Partners of CO FASHION WEEK™ have included Shane & Co.; American Crew; The City & County of Denver: The Buell Theater, Seawell Grand Ballroom (at the Denver Center for the Arts (DCPA); The McNichols Building; JW Marriott (Cherry Creek North); Telemundo: RoofStar Colorado; The Four Seasons Hotel Denver, to name a few.

    A SAMPLE OF PRESENTED DESIGNERS…
    • Hillary MacMillan (Toronto, Canada

  • Shane & Co. (Denver, CO)

  • Awl & Sundry (NYC)

  • D'Lola Couture (Denver, CO)

  • Mia Couture (Los Angeles, CA)

  • JUSTICE K |™ Collections (Denver, CO)

  • Nicholas Anthony (Casper, WY) to list a few.

 
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SOME KEY SPONSORS & UNDERWRITERS SINCE 2011…//

• Past Sponsors and Strategic Partners of COLORADO FASHION WEEK™ have included Shane & Co.; American Crew; The City & County of Denver: The Buell Theater, Seawell Grand Ballroom (at the Denver Center for the Arts (DCPA); The McNichols Building; JW Marriott (Cherry Creek North); Telemundo: RoofStar Colorado; The Four Seasons Hotel Denver, to name a few.

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Stylist: Laynie Rouch

Stylist: Laynie Rouch

 


CFW PURPOSE & GOALS…//

  1. Improve Colorado’s Presence in the Fashion Economy through Collaboration and Partnerships;

  2. Elevate Denver’s Brand as a City in the Creative Economy through innovative Global Partnerships;

  3. Recruit, Educate and Launch the careers of top Emerging Fashion Industry Talent

  4. Educate the next gen of Fashion Industry Talent to build economically and enviromentally Sustainable Fashion Businesses they can be proud of.

CFW’S PARTNERSHIPS…//

DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 1, 2019. COLORADO FASHION WEEK PARTNERS with ITS SISTER COMPANY @THE99CCENTSFUND FOR IMPACT FUNDRAISING Campaign.

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    ABOUT @THE99CENTSFUND™…//

  • @The99CentsFUNDpartners with Brands, Organizations, and Influencers to raise FUNDS aimed at solving ignored Social Problems.

  • (Disclaimer: @THE99CENTSFUND™ is a sister company of @COFASHIONWEEK and a Venture Studio portfolio company of IAMCOLLAGE.co & THE JTA GROUP: the parent companies of The COLORADO FASHION WEEK.

  • ABOUT The99CENTSFUND™…//

    • The Vision & Purpose of @The99CentsFund™ Partnership is to raise the Operating Capital needed to Fund the COLORADO FASHION WEEK as a Business of Fashion Venture Studio.

    • A percentage of all Funds raised will be used to establish an Endowment Fund dedicated to sustaining the COLORADO FASHION WEEK into the couple of decades.

    • Another percentage of Funds raised will be used to Invest in a Hand-selected portfolio of Designers that are ready and in need of the Financial Capital Investment to scale and grow their Businesses.

    —//

CO FASHION Tour’s DESIGNER APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN…//

• ( Fashion Designers + Brands can APPLY for Pee-Qualification NOW here: https://iamcollage.co/submissions/designers )

  • October 7 OF EACH YEAR IS SERVE AS THE CO FASHION Tour (C/o/F/T) Digital Kick-Off.

  • To celebrate the 10-year Anniversary of COLORADO FASHION WEEK (2011-2021), we are launching a year-long Digital Fashion TOUR to help Kick-Off our Next Decade of Growth as an organization.

    COVID-19…//

  • SINCE it’s private introduction in 2019, the CO FASHION TOUR travels outside Colorado to work 1:1 with a hand-picked network of emerging Fashion Designers, Brands and Industry Talent to help them solve the biggest problems they are facing with their Businesess or Personal Brands through paid 1:1 Business Consultations, Collaborative Live Mentorships and WORKING Residencies.

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    OUR NEXT FIVE YEARS AS A VENTURE STUDIO: SEASONS 2021-2026…//

  • With mindful intentionality, we’ve been quietly Road Testing various Business of Fashion Problems through our in-house Startup Lab of the Venture Studio. We look forward to partnering with our Presenting Designers and Brands to make their Businesses better.

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THE @IAMCOLLAGEMAG x @COFASHIONWEEK EDITORIAL PARTNERSHIP…//
   
{ About I AM COLLAG MAGAZINE }…//

I AM COLLAGE: The MAGAZINE is an Editorially Curated Content Hosting Network and Platform for Top emerging and established Creatives, Brands and Founders.

With its innovative 'Content-meets-Commerce' Digital Marketplace, @IAMCOLLAGEMAG empowers Designers, Brands, Organizations, Founders, and Influencers to commercially present their products/services/collections to an engaged consumer base all in one place.  

Readers can digitally 'Shop-every-Story' they experience on @IAMCOLLAGEMAG, as part of this partnership.

And every Brand or Designer that presents their collection through @COFASHIONWEEK or the @COFASHIONTOUR gets into consideration for an opportunity to Sell their Collections via @IAMCOLLAGEMAG

• @IAMCOLLAGEMAG is the Official Digital Media Partner of the COLORADO FASHION WEEK group.

LEARN More about I AM COLLAGE MAGAZINE

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COLORADO FASHION WEEK is a production THE JTA GROUP.

And a presentation of I AM COLLAGE

  • Founder x Managing Partner…
    - Justice Kwesi Kwarteng, MFA
    - Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Drama: NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, NY, NY
    - NYU In London (Global Studies Program) + ETW/Tisch in Amsterdam, Netherlands

    - Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Theater: Contemporary Performance, Naropa University, Boulder, CO

    CONTACT Us HERE…


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