Over the past week, there has been a little bit of controversy about San Francisco Fashion Week’s press pass policy and how it affects the blogging community.

San Francisco Fashion Week has never taken the position that bloggers could not or should not come to our events and post commentary on their site. On the contrary, we recognize that there are a number of blog sites which have had an impact on the fashion world, some of which are authored by industry professionals, former journalists and other authoritative sources. We fully welcome posts on these blogs.

Unfortunately, in past years we’ve had a few individuals who have mispresented themselves and obtained passes strictly for their own personal pleasure. In 2007 we decided to enforce a slightly stricter industry pass policy to better assist in the success of our designers, which means unfortunately that we may have cases in which we limit to whom we issue them as well as the number we give out.

SFFW prioritizes passes for individuals and entities who are sincerely interested in attending the event for industry and/or professional reasons. That said, we will continue to evaluate each pass request and make case-by-case decisions on each one, regardless of whom applies.

Our goal is, and always has been for the last four years, to promote the talent of our wonderful designers and offer them new opportunities to extend their awareness to industry professionals and the general public alike. San Francisco is a wonderful city with many talented individuals, and the purpose of SFFW is to bring the area’s fashion talent to the forefront and achieve the recognition it deserves. We hope that the city of San Francisco, and everyone who loves fashion as much as we do, will join us on this endeavor.