Melbourne Fashion Festival promotes David Briskin to chairman

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Sep 8, 2017

Melbourne Fashion Festival has recruited a new chairman this week, appointing retail veteran David Briskin to high-profile spot, as the festival readies for its seventh year.

With some twenty years experience in retail and finance, Briskin is hailed for kick-starting mid-luxe accessories brand Mimco as Managing Director and shareholder in 1999, and for his work with the Sass & Bide as CEO from 2008, turning the brand around before it was sold off to Myer for AU$72 million in 2014.

In February 2014, Briskin became the director of menswear retailer M.J. Bale, and is the founder of Briskin Investments and Advisory, a consulting firm to many domestic and international brands.

“Really, I just want the Australian fashion industry to grow, to thrive and be successful. And hopefully through the festival I can contribute to that," said Briskin, in a statement.

A Melbourne Fashion Festival board member since 2012, Briskin succeeds Laura Anderson, and will work with festival chief executive Graeme Lewsey.

“From my perspective David is a true leader, but he is also inspiring in his entrepreneurial spirit and is able to prove his track record in terms of what an entrepreneurial spirit is,” Lewsey said.

“When you look at creative industries, that could not be more relevant. I’m thrilled that we’re going to have an emphasis on building small and medium-sized enterprises to support our Australian fashion industry.”

Melbourne Fashion Festival's most recent session attracted a record 444,000 consumers across all events and activations both free and ticketed, from films and exhibitions to seminars and catwalk shows.