Colombiatex 2018: USD 18.7 million in business expected from historical edition

From January 23 to 25, the city of Medellin (Colombia) hosted the 30^th edition of Colombiatex de las Américas, one of the biggest trade shows for fabrics and supplies for the Latin American apparel industry. Brazil was the country honored at this edition and was at the show with one of the largest delegations ever, with 40 components, machinery and fabric companies.

The companies are part of internationalization projects from Abit (Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association), Abimaq (Brazilian Association of the Machinery and Equipment Industry) and Assintecal (Brazilian Association of Leather, Footwear and Artifact Component Companies) — all carried out in partnership with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).

The group of 28 Brazilian companies that were at Colombiatex are all members of Texbrasil (Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program) and they introduced launches over the three days of the event, doing USD 12.7 million in business. Business expected over the next 12 months also continues strong: USD 18.7 million.

According to Rafael Cervone, CEO of Texbrasil, one of the major attractions of this edition was Brazil’s high profile at a key moment from an export standpoint. “The new agreement taking effect between Mercosur and Colombia opened up a lot of possibilities that are encouraging growth in both textile markets. And at this edition we were able to take advantage of each of them,” he says.

Thiago Guerini, who is with the export team at the Rosset Group, said that the show was excellent. “Both regarding business opportunities and the audience, Colombiatex this year was great,” he says, adding that “the event has an interesting regional influence, providing the chance for us to make lots of contacts.”

Activities

In addition to facilitating deals and fostering contacts, the 2018 edition of Colombiatex also included various activities that will go down in the history of the event. On the first day of the show, the event’s organizers paid homage to Abit as one of the longest-running partners of Colombiatex. During a ceremony, Rafael received a plaque representing the show’s esteem for the partnership.

The press conference was also held on the first day, with spokespersons from Abit, Abimaq, Assintecal and Apex-Brasil taking part and with attendance by the international press, in addition to a cocktail for guests. Both activities took place at Brazil’s institutional stand.

On day two, buyers, executives and the press corps had the chance to check out “Talking Brazil: Opportunities and Future Perspectives,” a chat for guests with the Brazilian delegation which was a huge hit with the public. During this roundtable, organization spokespersons debated the future of manufacturing, the new Mercosur agreement with Colombia and trends in industry 4.0.

During each day of the show, there was also a series of fashion shows with creations by designers Heloisa Faria and Rober Dognani, curated by Andre Hidalgo, from the Casa de Criadores (House of Creators) fashion week. Looks were made using supplies from 25 of the 28 Brazilian companies at the event with the support of Texbrasil and they created plenty of buzz.

According to the Business Director of the Dalutex textile company, the conception for the dress created by Heloisa Faria using the company’s material exceeded all expectations: “The look was fantastic; we are very proud and happy with the result. We also loved the show, it was in extremely taste and well-organized, a real show,” she says.

Take a look at the companies in the Brazilian delegation that took part in Colombiatex 2018:

MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT  

• AUDACES AUTOMAÇÃO
• CASTILHO MÁQUINAS TÊXTEIS LTDA
• COMELATO RONCATO
• DELTA EQUIPAMENTOS
• INARMEG
• ORIZIO
• SOCIOTEC IND
• VIRTUAL LOOM
• WEKO

TEXTILES

• TÊXTIL CANATIBA
• CAIMAN TÊXTIL
• COMPANHIA INDUSTRIAL CATAGUASES
• COVOLAN TÊXTIL
• CEDRO TÊXTIL
• DALILA TÊXTIL
• DALUTEX
• EXPOR MANEQUINS
• TÊXTIL FARBE
• FIORELLA
• HUDTELFA
• INCOTEXTIL
• TÊXTIL J.SERRANO
• LA ESTAMPA
• NICOLETTI TÊXTIL
• PARAMOUNT TÊXTEIS
• RVB MALHAS
• ROSSET GROUP
• SALOTEX
• SANCRIS
• SANTACONSTANCIA
• SANTANA TEXTILES
• SANTANENSE
• SANTISTA
• SOUTEX TÊXTIL
• LINHAS TRICHÊ
• VICUNHA TÊXTIL
• MALHAS WILSON

COMPONENTS

• DINI TÊXTIL
• INNOVATIV
• SMS METAIS

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 more than 15 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).