The man behind Wellington Fashion Week is Cameron Sneddon, 22, who's spent the past five months planning, wooing sponsors and getting designers on board.

The intention is not to compete with New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland but to provide a stepping stone for designers to build their businesses.

"It provides a more affordable opportunity for designers to get them in a position to show at New Zealand Fashion Week in the future," Sneddon said yesterday. "Currently there is no in-between for designers.

"Hopefully it will breathe some fresh life into what I consider quite an understated industry in Wellington. It certainly deserves more recognition than it's getting."

New Zealand Fashion Week brand manager Myken Stewart said it "supported Wellington Fashion Week 100 per cent".

"We support anything that encourages people to be in fashion and raises the profile for what's going on out there. In the last 11 years that we've been doing [ NZ Fashion Week], the fashion designers have become rock stars.

"It's become a more seriously regarded industry and that's what we want to see. In the future, it would be great to collaborate with Wellington Fashion Week."

Established Wellington fashion brand Ashley Fogel and up-and-comer Hermione Flynn are two designers who have confirmed they will take part.

Fogel said it was important to commit early to the event, "to give the organisation our support and work with them to create a successful showcase of Wellington and its creative industries".

"It will also allow us to show to a market that may not have seen our collection recently."

Wellington Fashion Week, from April 18 to April 26, will host high-fashion trade shows and multiple designer and media events around the central city.

It will run in conjunction with the inaugural Wellington Young Designer Awards, to be held in the Great Hall at Massey University.

The event has the support of Museum Arts Hotel, Armstrong Prestige Audi, Massey University and The Edge.

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