What does Fashion Week bring to Adelaide?

Across five days this October, fashion will bring designers, creatives, businesses and audiences together across the city and North Adelaide.

But what can a fashion festival contribute to a city?

ADL Fashion Week returns from 7 to 11 October for its fifth year, with a 2026 program featuring more than 30 unique events spanning five festival-owned runways, alongside retailer and brand activations, workshops, dining experiences, creative collaborations and industry events.

Across the festival's headline runways, 35 brands will be featured, while more than 50 brands and retailers will take part in an expansive events program.

The breadth reflects how ADL Fashion Week has evolved over five years, establishing itself as a fixture on Adelaide’s cultural calendar and creating connections between fashion and the people, businesses and places around it.

Those connections can also generate activity across the city.

Activating the city

Last year’s festival provides one measure of that broader impact.

The 2025 ADL Fashion Week delivered 32 unique events across five days and sold more than 2,000 tickets.

And for many attendees, their experience extended across the city.

Sixty-eight per cent of attendees ate at a city venue before or after the event they attended, while forty-five per cent shopped in the city during the same visit.

Someone attending a runway might also book dinner, visit a bar, shop at a local retailer or explore another part of Adelaide or North Adelaide.

Together, those individual decisions can generate activity across hospitality, retail and other city businesses.

It demonstrates why cultural and creative events can play a role in Adelaide’s broader visitor economy. Attracting people into the city is one part of the opportunity; giving them reasons to stay, explore and spend is another.

Creating opportunities for industry

There is also an industry ecosystem behind every Fashion Week event.

Designers and labels may be at the centre of the program, but bringing it to life involves models, stylists, photographers, content creators, production teams, venues, suppliers and other creative professionals.

For those involved, the festival can provide opportunities to showcase their work, reach new audiences, collaborate and build industry connections. This gives designers confidence to open a business in the city, employ staff and work with local suppliers, contributing to a growing economy.

That focus extends to ADL Fashion Week’s partnership with the South Australian Fashion Industry Association (SAFIA), the peak body representing South Australia’s fashion industry.

The SAFIA Industry Breakfast provides a dedicated opportunity for the sector to connect, reinforcing the festival’s role in supporting industry development alongside its public-facing program.

Connecting creativity with economic opportunity

For the Adelaide Economic Development Agency, the role is not simply to deliver another event in the city calendar.

It is to create a platform that connects creative industry development with visitation, city activity and economic opportunity.

Supporting Adelaide’s creative industries, attracting people into the city and encouraging expenditure across local businesses are interconnected parts of that opportunity.

As AEDA Executive Manager Marketing and Tourism Michael Rossi has said, “ADL Fashion Week brings people into the city through fashion and connects them with Adelaide’s hospitality, retail and creative sectors. When people come into the city for an event, they dine, they shop, they discover — and this creates opportunity for them to experience more of Adelaide and a reason to come back.”

That connection between fashion, people and place is championed in the festival’s 2026 campaign, The Threads Between Us. Told through five living portraits, the campaign explores the relationships, influences, craft and shared stories shaping Adelaide’s fashion culture.

One of the campaign’s featured identities is VAN BRUSSEL founder and designer Rachel Van Brussel, who recently opened the label’s flagship store in Gay’s Arcade.

“Moving from a pop-up to a permanent store in Gay’s Arcade marks an exciting new chapter for VAN BRUSSEL. Adelaide has given me the space to build the brand and deepen my connection with customers, bringing them closer to the design, craftsmanship and local making behind each piece. My involvement in ADL Fashion Week allows me another platform to share that story and celebrate the creative community that makes it possible to build and grow a fashion business in Adelaide,” says Rachel Van Brussel.

It is about creating opportunities for creative industries to connect and grow, generating activity for city businesses and giving more people another reason to experience Adelaide.

Explore the 2026 ADL Fashion Week program and purchase tickets at ADLFASHIONWEEK.COM.

Sources:

The Threads Between Us | ADL Fashion Week | 7-11 October 2026

ADL Fashion Week – Inside the ADL Fashion Week 2026 Industry Information Session

ADL Fashion Week – Industry Hub

ADL Fashion Week – Official website

City of Adelaide – ADL Fashion Week 2025 Evaluation, Audit and Risk Committee Report