David Giles-Kaye is to step down as CEO of the Australian Fashion Council at the end of 2019 after 4 years in the role. A new CEO has been appointed by the board and will be announced shortly…
David Giles-Kaye is to step down as CEO of the Australian Fashion Council at the end of 2019 after 4 years in the role. A new CEO has been appointed by the board and will be announced shortly.
David Giles-Kaye has announced that he is to end his tenure at the helm of the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) at the end of 2019. This ends four years of service to Australia’s fashion industry, during which Giles-Kaye has overseen the merger of Australia’s two premier fashion bodies into one unified organisation and a significant growth in business support activity and membership.
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“It has been a privilege to serve as CEO over this period and to oversee the growth of the AFC and its service of Australia’s broad fashion industry. We are currently in an exciting growth period for the industry with a strong focus on design and quality and the engagement with ethical and sustainable practice steering the industry onto the world stage.”
In Giles-Kaye’s time, the AFC has focused its industry support role on the growth of businesses and people in the $25billion fashion industry. This has been achieved through an engaging range of programs that address the AFC’s 5 Growth Pillars; design and innovation, ethics and sustainability, building best practice supply chains, nurturing business practice and growing export capability and connections.
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“Dave has led the AFC into a new era, building a strong and relevant organisation that is having a real and positive impact on the fashion industry in Australia. He has initiated many successful programs like AFC Curated and AFC Flagship that are strengthening Australian fashion design businesses.”
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“Right from the beginning Dave has been one-eyed about building value in Australian fashion organisations. He talked at length with businesses from across the industry about what the AFC could do to help them, and from there he developed the AFC’s 5 Growth Pillars that have focused and driven AFC activities over the years, building the relevance of the AFC and driving up membership.”
One of the key developments in his tenure was the merger of the Council of Textile and Fashion and the Australian Fashion Chamber to form the Australian Fashion Council, a single unified voice for the industry. Since the merger, industry engagement in collaborative growth oriented activities have grown significantly and membership numbers are at record highs.
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“I have the strong belief that an industry grows together, with collaboration the key. I have put ‘community’ at the core of all our activities and programs, we learn from each other and all have something meaningful to contribute. The AFC is in great hands heading into 2020 with our amazing team and board of directors continuing on, and a new CEO to be announced soon. My decision to leave was only possible knowing that there would be such a strong team in place to continue the great work of the organisation and I look forward to remaining a close part of the AFC family into the future.”
The AFC Board thank David for his leadership of the organisation, and look forward to continuing to see the AFC support the growth of our local industry, with full confidence in the newly appointed CEO to be announced shortly.
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