Colombiatex 2017 Breaks Records; US$326 Million in Deals Seen

Medellin-based national textile and fashion industry trade association Inexmoda announced January 26 that the 2017 edition of the just-completed Colombiatex trade show resulted in US$326 million in business deals – up 4% year-on-year.

The biggest business deals at Medellin’s Plaza Mayor trade-show center involved buyers from the United States, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica, according to Inexmoda.

In total, 21,924 national and international visitors attended this year’s trade show – up 5.5% year-on-year — while the adjacent “knowledge center” industrial conferences organized by Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) drew another 8,229 persons – up 19% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the related “fashion-tendencies” forums drew another 1,155 attendees, according to the trade group.

International delegations rose 9% year-on-year, to 1,928 buyers, with nearly one-quarter attending thanks to special initiatives by Colombia’s trade-promotion agency ProColombia, according to Inexmoda.

In total, 2,900 people worked on the trade-show set-ups, including 72 direct employees and 2,828 indirect employees. In addition, some 40 international fashion-industry journalists and 200 Colombian national journalists covered various show events.

Of the US$326 million in expected business deals — as measured by survey firm Invamer — 41% of deals involve textiles, 23% for machinery, 10% for basic supplies, 7% for chemical products, 7% for threads and yarns, and 12% in related products.

“Colombiatex of the Américas is about to celebrate 30 years, with each year resulting in an even-greater version,” added Inexmoda president Carlos Eduardo Botero Hoyos. “We are the epicenter [for textile and fashion industries] in Latin America as the only trade-show integrating business, knowledge and tendencies.”

Thanks to parallel efforts by ProColombia and the Medellin mayor’s office, a special fashion-industry roundtable nabbed 75 international buyers to listen to specific pitches from Colombian industry exporters. In addition, Medellin’s Chamber of Commerce and the “Antioquia Exports More” alliance sponsored special networking sessions between national producers and international buyers.

The related fashion/textile “tendencies forum” included presentations on new fibers, digital printing, yarns, machinery production processes, and innovative services. Meanwhile, the “knowledge forum” section — simulcast by local TV channel TeleMedellin — included 15 workshops on latest technologies.

“Green” production also grabbed limelight, as for example in a special presentation by Torna on industrial water recycling.

Finally, Colombiatex 2017 also generated another COP$27 billion (US$9.1 million) in estimated local-business revenues along with tax revenues for the city of Medellin.