Pamela Privette Is Helping Fashion Designers Break Into The U.S. Market

The fashion world is an exclusive place. It’s hard to break into. As consumers, we typically only see the polished product of well-established designers, rather than their rocky rise.

One fashion show producer and curator, Pamela Privette, is helping give national and international designers a chance to show at fashion weeks around the globe with her runway show, hiTechModa.

It started out in 2018 when Privette saw a lack of opportunity for independent fashion designers, mostly international designers, on the runway. Having attended New York Fashion Week for years, she knows how hard it is to break into the fashion industry. Privette launched hiTechModa to help give underrepresented designers a platform to shine. “With my background in business and production and my love of fashion, it was a natural fit for me,” she said.

It began in New York City, showing 13 international designers who showcased their 2019 collections at Hotel Roosevelt during New York Fashion Week. The show included Shari Henry, the House of Churchill, TMC Collection, among others. “I study my designers as they showcase their strengths,” said Privette. “I am a designer-focused producer, I don’t just produce a fashion show. I mentor them and I want them to succeed.”

The designers who have showcased their collections on the hiTechModa runway have grown in recent years, from American designer Marc Defang, who recently moved back into ready to wear, while Indian brand Paaie opened a new boutique and started their own pageant system. She has seen Rian Fernandez, a designer from the Philippines, create a ready to wear line for the US market and design the gown for Savannah Gankiewicz, the Miss USA 2024, to wear at Miss Universe competition. “These designers are moving forward in a tough industry and not giving up,” said Privette.

Most recently she hosted the HiTechModa show on February 8 at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Over 20 different designers showed from North and South America, East and South Asia, Europe and Africa and Australia.

Highlights include Miss Universe 2024, Victoria Kjær Theilvig, walked the runway for Peruvian designer Yesi Rose Fashion, while María Fernanda Beltrán Figueroa, Miss Universe Mexico 2024, walked for Mexican designer, Alonso Maximo. Other designers that were featured on the runway include Kat Couture, Indian brands like Rasa Nari, Felix Bendish and Paaie, New Jersey streetwear brand Shmuie and UK brand Mitch Desunia.

It can be a hurdle for independent designers to break into the US market. “NYFW runways are no longer looking for up and coming designers, as they were in the 1960s and 1970s,” said Privette. “Buyers are not looking to buy. Independent designers are looking for authentic exposure for their collections. Selling runway spots to customers, though controversial, is a tactic some brands use to expand their market and sell their collections.”

According to a report on the global apparel market from Uniform Market, the success rate of fashion brands is low. Their data reveals that only 10% of clothing startups can survive in the long run. Roughly 30% fail within the first two years. Half of fashion businesses can’t survive past the five-year mark.

Privette’s advice to up and coming fashion designers is to never give up. “You must keep working at it; remember why you love it,” said Privette. “Look for good production companies. What you see on social media is not always what you get when arriving onsite. Look for a company that is there to help you.”

“Remember to invest in your business,” she adds. “I do a lot of consulting with my designers. I am extremely proud of them. I have seen extreme growth in many of them on the runway and expansion of their businesses. They work hard, we grow together.”

Next up, hiTechModa will be hosting a runway show at the five-star Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris on March 8, during Paris Fashion Week. Setting up a runway show in France is a bold move, and part of her approach to helping designers.

“Nothing worth having is not worth fighting for,” she said. “For the up-and-coming designers, remember, you are our future. I am always looking for new doors to help all my designers, always. They invest in hiTechmoda and I invest in them.”