THE council for the fashion industry in the country is working round-the-clock to ensure that it is developing a sustainable, strong, robust and creative fashion industry in the country, one that is globally competitive.

This is one of the primary purposes of the Fiji Fashion Council since its establishment in the country.

And in trying to achieve this, council’s chairman Faraz Ali says education is the centre of what they do because fashion and designing do not have formal education in Fiji.

“What the council is trying to do is to explore fashion as an option. We have a pattern-making course which will be run by Robert Verebasaga, who just came back with a bachelor’s degree in designing from Australia in conjunction with DFAT, Australian High Commission,” Mr Ali said.

“What it does is to get young people to come and have a taste of a different type of work because everybody in Fiji is so focused on traditional jobs such as doctors, lawyers, and accountant and so on. We want to give people the opportunity to realise to make a living in an industry that is outside the traditional norms. We can only do that through educating them.”

This way, he adds that at least one can say that this industry has a certificate in something and have explored something formally educated in this manner.

He highlights the importance of formal education in the fashion industry in the country.