The third edition of Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week, Africa’s main trade show for the cotton, textile, apparel, home and technology industry, which will take place from 3-6 October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has for the first time cooperated with Messe Frankfurt.

As part of the partnership, the three new trade fair brands Texworld Addis Abeba, Apparel Sourcing Addis Abeba and Texprocess Addis Abeba will be launched within the Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week. The event trio in Addis Abeba’s Millennium Hall will present over 250 international exhibitors from 25 countries.

Exhibitors

The largest exhibiting nations coming to Ethiopia include Turkey, the United Arabic Emirates, Tansania, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy and Germany. Apparel fabrics, leather goods, fashion and fashionable accessories will be the main items on display.

The following companies have already confirmed their participation: Almeda Textile, Atraco, Baykar Tekstil, Else Textile, Indochina Textile, Maa Garment, MNS, Özkan Textile, Tür Ip Tekstil, Velocity and YKK. Home and household textile providers will also be presented, such as Sammi Deluxe Leather, Samra Leather, Unido –  Lomi Leather and Village Industries.

Machine manufacturers for garment production, CAD/CAM systems, printers, inks and accessories will have a strong presence, too, organisers report. Brother Industries, FK Group and Groz-Beckert have already confirmed their participation, as well as Has Group Turkey, IMA Spa, Jack, Juki Corporation, Maya, Pegasus Sewing Machines, Silver Star, V.B. Mac and Veit. Parallel to the fair there will be a comprehensive programme, including a fashion show, lecture series, a trend area and a matchmaking platform.

Partnership

Following Europe, Asia and America, Messe Frankfurt is expanding its textile event portfolio to encompass Africa. From this year onwards, Messe Frankfurt will enter into a partnership with Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week in Ethiopia. Its involvement in East Africa marks Messe Frankfurt's first foray into the new territory of the African textile industry.

“For us, this partnership marks the start of our textile trade fair activities on an exceptionally interesting continent that is becoming more and more important for the textile industry and whose players will come increasingly to prominence,” commented Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt. “We look forward to our collaboration as part of the Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week and are excited about the upcoming event.”

Fashion is big business in Africa

The combined apparel and footwear market in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be worth US$ 31 billion, according to data from Euromonitor International. The fashion industry is expected to double in the next 10 years, generating up to US$ 5 trillion annually.

Every year, in the US alone US$ 284 billion are spent on fashion retail, through the purchase of 19 billion garments. This presents a tremendous opportunity for Africa at various levels of the value chain: From design to production to marketing, the fashion industry is a profitable business. It is important to look at these industries through a value-chain approach to see the contribution that a Made in Africa brand can make to African economies.

“Due to increased wages within Asia, cheap labour in Africa as well as the AGOA agreement between Africa and the USA, the African continent is becoming ever more important for textile production. Lesotho, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya and Ethiopia are playing a leading role in this,” said Skander Negasi, Managing Director of Trade and Fairs East Africa, the organiser of Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week.

www.texpertise-network.com