PNG Fashion Week launches inaugural Pacific Fashion Summit with support from the New Zealand High Commission

PNG Fashion Week is proud to announce the launch of the Pacific Fashion Summit 2026, a new regional industry platform bringing together designers, entrepreneurs, retailers, media professionals, creative practitioners and industry leaders from Papua New Guinea and across the Pacific.

Supported by the New Zealand High Commission in Papua New Guinea, the inaugural Summit will be held at APEC Haus on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September 2026, from 10:00am to 2:00pm each day, as part of PNG Fashion Week 2026.

The Pacific Fashion Summit is FREE and open to the general public, with students, young people, SMEs, designers, models, artists, photographers, content creators, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in Papua New Guinea's growing creative industries encouraged to attend.

Participants are encouraged to register online prior to attending.

Fashion. Business. Culture. Future.

Presented under the theme “Fashion. Business. Culture. Future.”, the two-day Summit will feature six major panel discussions addressing some of the most important issues facing fashion and the wider creative industries:

The Business of Fashion – turning creativity into commercially sustainable businesses.

Supply Chain and Market Access – strengthening production, retail opportunities and pathways from maker to market.

Media and the Creative Industries – telling Pacific stories, building brands and strengthening creative visibility.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership – developing stronger people, professional relationships and creative organisations.

Sustainable Fashion – protecting culture, communities and the environment while building responsible industries.

Youth and the Future of the Creative Economy – creating pathways, careers and opportunities for the next generation.

Industry professionals from Papua New Guinea and across the Pacific will participate in the conversations, providing the public with an opportunity to hear directly from people working across fashion, business, media, sustainability, retail and the creative industries.

PNG Fashion Week Founder and Managing Director Philma Kelegai said the Summit represented an important evolution of PNG Fashion Week beyond the runway.

“Papua New Guinea has extraordinary creative talent, but if we want creativity to become sustainable businesses, employment and economic opportunity, we also have to build the industry around that talent,” Kelegai said.

“The Pacific Fashion Summit allows us to have those important conversations about business, markets, leadership, sustainability, media and opportunities for our young people.”

Supported by New Zealand

PNG Fashion Week has expressed its sincere appreciation to the New Zealand High Commission in Papua New Guinea for supporting the inaugural Summit and helping make the program accessible to the public.

“We are incredibly grateful to the New Zealand High Commission for supporting this initiative and recognising the importance of investing in our creative community,” Kelegai said.

“Their support allows us to create a free platform where Papua New Guineans can access knowledge, meet industry professionals, build networks and participate in conversations about the future of our creative economy.”

Strengthening Pacific connections

The Pacific Fashion Summit builds upon PNG Fashion Week's growing regional presence and its long-standing commitment to strengthening connections across the Pacific.

PNG Fashion Week has maintained fashion and creative connections with Fiji for almost a decade and recently established a lifetime partnership with LifeCon Samoa, creating ongoing opportunities for exchange between Papua New Guinean and Samoan designers and creatives.

PNG Fashion Week has also strengthened its connections with New Zealand and the wider Pacific fashion community. In 2024, prominent New Zealand fashion designer Kiri Nathan attended PNG Fashion Week in Papua New Guinea, bringing valuable regional visibility and further demonstrating the potential for stronger creative and industry relationships between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

The organisation has also established platforms in Australia to showcase and support Pacific Island designers and creatives, strengthening opportunities for Pacific fashion within Australia and beyond.

Together, these relationships across Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia are helping position Papua New Guinea as an increasingly important meeting place for Pacific fashion, textiles, culture and creative enterprise.

That regional network will be visible during PNG Fashion Week 2026, with 13 international participants travelling to Papua New Guinea for this year's program.

International designers, models and creative professionals will join Papua New Guineans at APEC Haus, creating opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, professional development and new regional relationships.

“We are extremely proud that international creatives are travelling to Papua New Guinea to participate in Fashion Week,” Kelegai said.

“Everything we do internationally ultimately comes back to promoting Papua New Guinea, creating opportunities for our people and demonstrating the extraordinary creative talent that exists in this country.”

Creativity and Papua New Guinea's future

The Summit comes as Papua New Guinea enters its 51st year as an independent nation, and PNG Fashion Week believes the creative economy should play a greater role in conversations about the country's future development.

Across Papua New Guinea, young people are already designing, sewing, weaving, modelling, photographing, creating content, producing events and building small businesses.

The Pacific Fashion Summit aims to explore how that creativity can be supported with the knowledge, networks, business skills and market opportunities required to create sustainable livelihoods.

“As we enter our 51st year, we need to continue creating development projects and opportunities that respond to the talents of our people,” Kelegai said.

“Our young people are creative. Our culture is extraordinary. Our opportunity now is to build the structures that allow that creativity to become businesses, careers and economic opportunity.”

PNG Fashion Week intends for the Pacific Fashion Summit to become a signature annual event, creating an ongoing regional platform for industry dialogue, professional development, collaboration and opportunity.

“We are incredibly proud to launch the first Pacific Fashion Summit here in Papua New Guinea,” Kelegai said.

“This is more than fashion. It is about business, culture, people and the future.”

PACIFIC FASHION SUMMIT 2026

Fashion. Business. Culture. Future.

Friday 18 & Saturday 19 September 2026
10:00am – 2:00pm daily
APEC Haus, Port Moresby
FREE and open to the public
Online registration encouraged

The Pacific Fashion Summit forms part of PNG Fashion Week 2026 and is delivered with the support of the New Zealand High Commission in Papua New Guinea.