IACDE southern US Chapter

The USA-Southern Chapter of the IACDE was chartered in 1967 as the Atlanta Club of the IACD. The club grew quickly and soon became the Southern Chapter of the IACD, including designer members and suppliers from 12 states in the Southeast. Clothing manufacturers and other industry leaders later became Southern Chapter members when the IACD incorporated executives under the new name – IACDE. Due to the geographic size of the Southern Chapter meetings have been scheduled on a quarterly basis, while growing to over 120 members from 1970 through the 1990’s.

The mission of the Southern Chapter of the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives is to provide its membership with access to a global, professional network for the exchange of information pertaining to:

• Fashion and retail trends
• Design technology like 3-D
• Developments and research
• Concepts of garment construction products
• Interaction with textile and fashion academia
• Mentoring the next generation of Southern Chapter-IACDE professionals
• Speed to market and Sustainability

The USA-Southern Chapter has hosted many international IACDE Conventions in Atlanta during the years that the IACDE’s semi-annual convention coincided with the Bobbin Show (an annual international apparel industry trade show). In addition, the Southern Chapter hosted memorable IACDE conventions in Charleston SC in 1990, in Nashville TN in 1995, and 1 in Key Biscayne FL in 1999 with all proving very successful for both the IACDE and the Southern Chapter, with attendance near 300 for each.

Some of our recent joint activities with the University of Georgia include sponsorship of the Fashion Design Student Association Spring Fashion show and in collaboration with the North American Chapter we held our annual panel discussions with the fashion students. This provides a forum to share our knowledge and expertise with the future leaders of our industry. Additionally, Lisa Jarvis, a world renowned stylist/ fashion director, currently working in Paris, was kind enough to share her creative work and journey into the fashion field with the students during a recent meeting via Zoom.

We look forward to growing our membership in the coming years and hope to attract additional industry members as we move out of the pandemic era.