The sixth edition of Fashion Business, an exchange mart for Brazilian fashion, was officially inaugurated, yesterday, June 15, in the Museum of Modern Art, in Rio de Janeiro.
The fair runs parallel to the seventh edition of Fashion Rio, in which the new spring/summer models are displayed.
The superintendent of the Brazilian Micro and Small Enterprise Support Service (Sebrae-Rio de Janeiro), Sérgio Malta, predicts a 15% sales growth in the Brazilian fashion sector this year, compared with last year, when domestic sales totaled R$ 300 million and exports, US$ 5.5 million.
The vice-president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), João Lagoeiro Barbará, recalled that the state of Rio is the country’s third largest clothing exporter, trailing Santa Catarina and São Paulo.
The sector experienced a 24% overall sales growth in the state in 2004 (US$ 7.7 million or 19.6 million reaus). This percentage surpassed the sector’s national average rate of export growth, which was 17.7%.
The first edition of Fashion Business, in February, 2003, generated domestic transactions worth US$ 61 million (150 million reaus).
The trend since then has been upward, attaining US$ 102 million (250 million reais) in January, 2005. Barbará said he expects that the 2005 edition will result in between US$ 143 million (350 million reais) and US$ 163 million (400 million reais) worth of business.
ABr