Borana represents Brazil at Macau Fashion Festival

Espírito Santo-based fashion designer Patiara Aguiar was the only Brazilian chosen to take part in Macau Fashion Festival 2019. The designer, who owns the Borana brand, held a fashion show at the Asian event on October 17. The government of Macau invited the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit)[GS1]  to the event and the label showed its collection along with seven other international companies.

The brand is a member of Texbrasil (Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program), the result of a partnership between Abit (Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association) and Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).

Participating in the festival was extremely valuable to the company, since it has already opened up new markets for the brand, Patiara explains. “I would like to extend my immense thanks to Texbrasil, which allowed us to reach the Macau Fashion Festival. We took part in a selective process, we were chosen to represent Brazil and we did amazing work. We are very satisfied and thankful to everyone. We received lots of praise from the Asian audience. And this will surely allow us to open up major business possibilities and help in internationalizing our brand. I would therefore like to once again thank Abit and Texbrasil and make it clear how important it is to be part of the Program and the Association,” the designer says.

Jorge Aguiar, Manager of Strategic Affairs and Production at Borana, said that the company’s work has even changed the economic scenario in the region where its facilities are located. “We are in an impoverished part of northern Espírito Santo, where there is not much of a fashion tradition. Yet we were able to reverse this situation. We are changing the reality here, since we’ve partnered with a nearby low-income community, where more than 15 families make a living from crafts made using our textile waste. The company’s goal is transformation, and we have achieved unprecedented feats, which makes us happy. We’re including the Borana name in our region’s history of apparel manufacturing,” he underscores.

Borana took a collection inspired by reggae, lots of patchwork, a mix of prints and handcrafting to the fashion show at the Macau Fashion Festival.

About Texbrasil

The Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program (Texbrasil) works with textile and apparel industry companies to develop strategies for success in the global market. Over nearly 20 years, it has helped around 1500 brands to enter the export market, bringing in USD 3.6 billion in business. The Program is conducted by Abit in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).