The World's leading Fashion Cities - Pt 2

With Fashion week season upon us, we wanted take a look at the ranking of the most fashion-oriented cities for 2018 in cooperation with The IFDAQ - International Fashion Digital Automated Quantification.

The list is the first of its kind - a comprehensive, real-time, transparent and highly precise annual Fashion City Rating called FACER. Built entirely with Artificial Intelligence, the FACER quantification system ranks cities based on their worldwide market volume, industry share, turnover potential and overall influence.

Below we break each city down in detail by taking a look at what makes them unique and the reasons why they made the Top 20 list from the rest of the pack. This article is part 2 of a 2-part series, below we shall take a look at cities from 10 - 1.

No. 10 Barcelona

Barcelona ranks at No 10 for many good reasons. For centuries the city has been a major textile hub,making it one of the fastest growing fashion industries in the world. Further, several of the world's top fashion brands are headquartered there such as Custo Barcelona, Mango, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Sita Murt and Desigual. Barcelona is also the 6th strongest location of the fashion modelling industry and sustains one of the world's strongest fashion model markets with agencies such as Uno Models, View Management and Traffic Models.

No. 9 Los Angeles

Los Angeles is not only the second largest fashion city in North America, but also the 5th strongest destination when it comes to international successful brands, a few of which are J Brand, American Apparel, Forever 21, and Frame Denim. The city is also best known for establishing popular models like Tyra Banks, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Chanel Iman, Kendall Jenner as well as one of the top Victoria's Secret angels Lily Aldridge. Even the L.A. Fashion Week is an important one due to the fact that Tommy Hilfiger shifted his fashion show from New York to L.A. and Tom Ford relocated his women's design studio.

No. 8 Stockholm

Thanks to a very strong brand portfolio including H&M, Acne Studios, Cos Sweden and Filippa K, Stockholm is one of the strongest cities. With its own Fashion Week, it is also an incubator for Swedish designers to innovate.

No. 7 Tokyo

Tokyo is the biggest fashion city in Asia and undoubtedly one of the most uncommon fashion locations in the world. Not only does it have international brands like Uniqlo, sacai, Shisiedo, Undercover and Adeam, but also has a very well-built and strong print media landscape which includes urban magazines like Commons&Sense, Fudge, JJ, Ginza, Glitter to name a few.

No. 6 Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo is the leading fashion city in South America and hosts the fifth biggest fashion week in the world after the big-four. Every season Sao Paulo shows the world, the Brazilian appeal in fashion with international renowned Brazilian brands such as Ellus, Osklen, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Animale and Carlos Miele. The fact that the most beautiful women such as Gisele Bundchen, Isabeli Fontana, Carolina Trentini, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio come from Brazil also contributes to the success of the agencies in Sao Paulo.

No. 5 Madrid

Madrid holds the 5th position due to the fact that it is also the 5th strongest destination when it comes to fashion media. The Madrid Fashion Week is the most prestigious fashion event in Spain and is part of the world-wide Mercedes-Benz fashion week circuit. It also has an impressive brand portfolio with brands such as Loewe, Delpozo, Carrera y Carrera and Ansorena. As the heart of Spanish fashion consumption, production and exhibition, Madrid undoubtedly dominates the Spanish fashion market.

No. 4 London

London has strong online retailers like Net-A-Porter, Asos, Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next. The top 12 modeling agencies control around 68% of the whole modeling market in London. The biggest agency is Storm Models who even without Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss, can dominate the market with its plethora of models such as Jourdan Dunn, Eva Herzigova, Lily Cole and Karolina Kurkova.

No. 3 Milan

Milan is home to several leading fashion designers including Giorgio Armani, Miuccia Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. The top 11 modeling agencies control around 73% of Milan's entire modeling market, starting with the biggest being Why Not Model Agency followed by Women Management and IMG Models.

No. 2 Paris

Paris is known for its iconic fashion houses, including Chanel, LV, Hermes, YSL, Dior and of course for its haute couture fashion week. Paris is often considered the 'New York of Europe', which means that just like its North American counterpart, it offers not only high-fashion work and international cosmetic and beauty campaigns, but also plenty of commercial print work and television commercials. The top 13 modeling agencies from Paris control around 80% of Paris' entire modeling market, starting with the biggest being IMG Models followed by Elite Model Management and Next Model Management.

No. 1 New York

It comes as no surprise to us that New York ranks as our number one. From remarkable fashion companies to new icons from the world's leading fashion agencies, New York's prime new developments have grabbed headlines around the world in recent years. Manhattan's Garment District is surrounded by major fashion labels such as Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan who have their showrooms, production facilities, or support offices located there. Moreover, the NYC modeling market is by far one of the biggest and most diverse ones. The city is headquarters to many leading fashion magazines and powerful fashion agencies. The top 16 modeling agencies control around 56% of its entire modeling market. Finally, one of the biggest agencies, IMG Model Management oversees the successful careers of the most international recognizable faces such as Carolyn Murphy, Amber Valletta, Joan Smalls, Karlie Kloss and Chanel Iman.

This article first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of LOVEFMD Magazine. So far, we've limited the list to rank only the top 20 Fashion Cities, those interested in the complete list can pre-register at http://www.ifdaq.com/

About IFDAQ
The IFDAQ is the most advanced and powerful AI system that provides quantitative market values for anyone and everything in the fashion and luxury industry. The IFDAQ values come from an intelligent ecosystem that creates a high-dimensional virtual image of the fashion industry and measures the effective market value based on the relative performance in the industry of a fashion entity.

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