Fashion Industry Network Contests
The contest group and the two essay contests of record
This page records the contests associated with the Fashion Industry Network, the Apparel Search Company's fashion industry community, and the fashion contest group that discussed them. The network ran contests only occasionally - most contests talked about in its contest group were not sponsored by the network at all - but two essay contests are part of its own record and are linked at the top of this page.
Both were writing contests with small cash prizes and a deliberately light spirit: the Fashion Trend Forecast 2011 Essay Contest, which ended February 14, 2011, and the October 2010 contest built around the book Fashion Public Relations, which ended November 20, 2010. The community itself is history now - the network's closure was announced June 21, 2024 - and this page keeps the contest record with it.
Network Contests and Community
The Fashion Contest Group
The network had a fashion contest group section. Its purpose was to provide an area for members of the fashion industry to discuss issues relevant to fashion contests: members could post information regarding contests that they manage, contests that they have entered, or simply discuss fashion contests in general. Anyone interested in fashion contests was welcome to join the discussions.
The group's charter was honest about sponsorship: the majority of contests discussed in the fashion contests group were NOT sponsored by the network. The network would on occasion participate, and the contests it was itself associated with are the two essay contests recorded on this page. (The page's own running joke deserves keeping: it asked whether readers knew the network had a fashion contest group, and noted that you do not win anything if you answer that question correctly.)
The Two Essay Contests
The Fashion Trend Forecast 2011 Essay Contest asked members to forecast an important fashion trend for 2011 in 150 to 2,000 words, judged on passion and reasoning rather than accuracy. First prize of forty dollars went to Yogitha and second prize of twenty dollars to Kimberlee VDW; eight official entries are preserved on Apparel Search, linked through the contest page at the top of this page.
The Fashion Contest October 2010 was an essay contest for the Fashion Public Relations book, ending November 20, 2010; its winners were announced on its own page, also linked above. Together the two contests show the network's idea of a contest: small stakes, industry subject matter, and entries published as pages so the writing itself became the lasting prize.
Common Questions
What contests was the network itself associated with?
Two essay contests: the Fashion Trend Forecast 2011 Essay Contest (ended February 14, 2011; Yogitha first, Kimberlee VDW second) and the Fashion Contest October 2010 for the Fashion Public Relations book (ended November 20, 2010).
What was the fashion contest group for?
Discussion: an area where members could post information about contests they managed, contests they had entered, or discuss fashion contests in general. Most contests discussed there were not sponsored by the network.
Were the contest prizes large?
No - forty dollars for first place and twenty for second in the 2011 contest, by design: the organizers described the contests as designed around education and fun.