WGSN to Honor Fashion's Most Inspirational, Innovative Individuals and Businesses at the Global Fashion Awards 2010

NEW YORK, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- WGSN (www.wgsn.com), the world's pre-eminent style and trend forecaster, today announced it has created the Global Fashion Awards, the first awards program to recognize and reward those businesses and individuals who are pushing the boundaries of fashion, propelling the industry forward and setting the style agenda on a global scale.

The Global Fashion Award categories cover all the major business and creative disciplines of fashion, including design, retail (on-and off-line), buying, visual merchandising, store design, marketing and ethical practice.

"Over the last two years, the fashion marketplace and the fashion consumer have changed dramatically, fostering a hotbed of inspired innovation in creative development, product marketing and business operations across the industry and around the world," said Susanna Kempe, CEO of WGSN. "At WGSN we want to shine a light on those businesses and individuals whose actions, ideas and influence have served as an inspiration for both the fashion industry and consumers in 2010."

The winners will be announced on November 10, 2010, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. WGSN will be awarding honoree status to fashion greats from Americas, Apac and EMEA and fashion industry insiders and patrons from across the globe will be in attendance.

The complete list of awards, by category, includes:

• Retail/VM and Buying: "Outstanding visual merchandising," "Outstanding customer experience," "Outstanding new store" and "Outstanding brand mix (multi-brand stores)"
• Design & Trendsetting: "Most influential design team – brand or retailer," "Most influential designer – womenswear," "Most influential designer – menswear," "Most influential designer – footwear & accessories" and "Most creative student collection"
• Business: "Global brand or retailer," "Emerging brand or retailer," "Best e-tailer" and "Most sustainable brand or retailer"
• Marketing: "Best marketing campaign" and "Most innovative digital initiative"
• Industry stars: "Outstanding achievement/lifetime achievement" and "Style Icon"

The winners will be selected by an expert panel of judges, made up of some of the most influential people in the fashion and style industries, including designers, merchants and marketing executives. The judges' panel was carefully selected by WGSN to ensure impartiality and global expertise. The judging panel includes:

• Sarah Curran, CEO of my-wardrobe.com
• Nadia Jones, Creative Director, Oasis
• Gemma Metheringham, Joint CEO and Creative Director, Karen Millen
• Sari Sloane, VP of Fashion Merchandising, Intermix
• Riccardo Bellini, Global Brand Director of Diesel
• Ed Burstell, Buying Director for Liberty
• Tom Chapman, Owner, Matches

"I was delighted to be asked to judge the WGSN global fashion awards! Anything that recognizes design talent and clever retailing is key and to widen it globally will be fascinating as well as pioneering," said Nadia Jones, creative director for Oasis. "As Fashion trends and style ever increasingly spread to all parts of the globe at the same time, it is finally possible to have truly global fashion and retail brands. I am honored to be a part of WGSN's Global Fashion Awards, which I am sure will quickly become one of the industry's most auspicious and sought-after accolades."

About WGSN

WGSN is the global authority on style and design. The company identifies and analyzes current and future style trends and provides its customers with state-of-the-art online tools that that can be used to create commercially successful products and services.  WGSN defines and shapes wining style and design for over 36,000 customers globally. WGSN customers include many of the world's leading apparel, style, design and retail companies including Levi Strauss & Co., Adidas, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, Benetton Group, and Marks and Spencers, among others. WGSN is headquartered in London and has offices all over the world, including Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.wgsn.com. Follow WGSN on Twitter: @wgsn.

SOURCE WGSN