Big brands for CFW

Iconic high fashion brand Cartier has teamed up with White Shirt and Pulse to sponsor special red-carpet aspects of this year's Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW). CFW 2011 is scheduled for the National Indoor Sports Centre from June 10-12, with other special events slated for Thursday, June 9, and Monday, June 13.

White Shirt, a new, innovative brand, is looking to make its mark through the use of worldwide premium West Indian Sea Island Cotton, which is grown in Jamaica and three other Caribbean islands. All the players in this special CFW initiative have a key partner in Spoerry 1866, the venerable Swiss high-end fashion house that not only makes the special cotton from Caribbean lint but also produces a fashion line. The line will be shown outside Europe for the first time at this CFW season.

West Indian Sea Island Cotton (WISIC) is perceived as having the potential to be a game changer in the Caribbean fashion industry and was a key initiative of the Caribbean Fashion Industry Association (CAFIA), formed at CFW 2009. CAFIA, headed by Pulse's chairman Kingsley Cooper, teamed up with the Jamaica Agricultural Development Foundation (JADF), headed by Vitus Evans, to do extensive work on how the Caribbean could utilise WISIC to expand and enhance a unique fashion industry.

Apart from the Caribbean's best designers, international stylists and celebrities, CFW 2011 will present Jamaica Night on June 10 with Mavado and Tanya Stephens; Caribbean Night on Saturday, June 11 with Machel Montana and David Rudder, backed by Fab Five; and International Night on Sunday, June 12 with Joe and Beenie Man. Other acts will be announced.