Rio-à-Porter, a fashion and design business salon held this month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil generated 526 million Brazilian reais (US$ 294 million) in deals. The event, which took place on the sidelines of the Fashion Rio parades, brought together over 3,000 buyers from Brazil and abroad.
With regard to exports, sales deals totaling US$ 18.5 million were closed, 17% more than in the 2009 edition.
According to the Luminosidade and Francal Feiras companies, which organized the event, 85,000 people circulated around the Dock of the Port, where the fashion salon and the parades took place. Among the visitors, 250 were new buyers.
International representatives of several countries, such as the United States, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon attended the event.
Among the 169 exhibiting brands, companies Cantão and Lanno, for instance, bet on the contacts made at the Rio-à-Porter in order to increase exports. The Lanno accessory brand exceeded by 50% the business volume achieved in the event’s first two days, compared with the previous edition. The company received sales orders to the United States, Germany, Turkey and Lebanon.
The business volume generated at the event surpassed last year’s figure by 40%. The number of exhibitors also grew, having gone from 150 to 169. According to data supplied by the organizers, the business salon had a waiting list of 60 exhibitors.
The Texbrasil program, established by the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit) in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) in order to promote the industry abroad, brought to Brazil 30 international buyers, some of them from the Arab countries, which are among the project’s targets for promotion of Brazilian fashion.
This year, the Texbrasil project targets fashion industry exports equivalent to US$ 572 million, comprising 1,174 small and medium Brazilian companies. From January to December 2009, the industry obtained US$ 1.7 billion in revenues from exports. The largest buying markets were Argentina, the United States, Paraguay, Mexico and Venezuela.
