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An industrial runway that gathered more than a thousand people at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel formally launched the activities of the Colombian Week in New York to take advantage of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States.
The textile sample was honored by the presence of US buyers as guests, to reveal the potential of the Colombian sector.
" We have an FTA that conveys buyers the guarantee that Colombia can be a long-term provider with competitive prices, quality, design, creativity and cero tariffs&rdquo , explained María Claudia Lacouture, President of Proexport.
The industrial runway was named " Colombia knows best&rdquo and included 85 presentations of models who exhibited corporate uniform clothing, women&rsquo s underwear, sportswear and activewear.
The event was inaugurated by the First Lady, María Clemencia Rodríguez de Santos and the President Juan Manuel Santos who urged attendees to increase their dealings with the country, to benefit from the FTA signed by both countries, which became effective on May 15th, 2012.
" This is the first time that we present an industry runway. Colombia can manufacture the products that buyers need: shirts, jeans, uniforms, swimwear, underwear with creativity and design, and that is the potential we are presenting&rdquo , added Lacouture.
The attendees to the industrial runway included representatives from Ferragamo, Couch, Ralph Lauren and Oscar de la Renta, among others. Likewise, opinion leaders of the US industry attended, such as Bloomberg, InStyle, CNNMoney, Market Watch, People en Español, Vogue and Womens Wear Daily.
To present the potential of the textile and clothing industry in Colombia, 30 women and 15 men were selected from a casting where 180 and 120 models, respectively, participated, from different countries like Poland, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan. The fashion show was opened by a Colombian model.
Some of the female models who participated formerly worked for Chanel, Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, Prada, Y3, Benetton, Dolce and Gabana and, in the case of men, Tommy Hilfiger, Botega Veneta and Ralph Lauren.
The accessories, shoes, hats, bracelets and purses they used were brought from Colombia and provided by Artesanías de Colombia and the event included the support of Inexmoda and Acicam.
The runway was prior to the Business Multisector Macro-round that plans to hold nearly 4500 business meetings from Thursday to Friday among 600 Colombian exporters and 400 US buyers.
Exports to the United States
The main Colombian products exported to the United States from 2007 to 2011 in the clothing sector include jeans for men and children, household linen or kitchen towels and T-shirt cotton underwear. The sales of these products increased from 38.5% to 41.2% in the same period.
In 2011, the industry exports reached US$301.4 million. The clothing industry reported sales for US$222 million the textile industry US$16.5 million leather products US$58.8 million jewelry US$2.5 million and footwear US$1.5 million.
Please refer to the photograph gallery of the Colombian Week in New York at http://bit.ly/LCGt2B
