Fashion from Fabrics

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A trip to Milan was one of the final activities of an 18 month programme designed to promote crossborder networks and relationship building for clothing based companies north and south. The Irish Fashion Industry Federation (IFIF) worked in partnership with its northern counterpart the Garment, Textile and Technology Association (GTTA) on completing the Fashion from Fabric business development. In total, twenty companies took part in the Fashion From Fabric programme – ten from the south and ten from the north of Ireland. Over the duration of the programme companies benefited from participation in a number of initiatives including individual mentoring sessions, trips to two international trade shows, and ongoing business training and networking opportunities. During each of the 6 weekend residential workshops participants received formal training from industry experts to support their ongoing individual mentoring sessions and most importantly, they had an opportunity to network and exchange business information. The participating companies visited Paris for the Premier Vision exhibition, securing enhanced business connections and in some cases, national exposure and attended “Milano Unica”, a fabric exhibition which attracts over 30,000 international buyers every year. This provided local designers with an opportunity to access high end fabrics for the 2008 and 2009 seasons which were then unavailable in Ireland. Over 4 days the designers had the opportunity to view new fabrics, create new working relationships with international designers and exchange ideas with some of the biggest names in the fabric business. The final evaluation of the IFIF Fashion From Fabric Programme confirms that participating companies have seen business relationships across the border notably strengthened through their participation on the programme, while business development at an individual company level has also been witnessed. Many participating companies who centrally operated at a local level prior to this initiative stated that while they continue to network and collaborate with other participating companies, further contacts are being developed through these initial relationships, opening up new cross border business opportunities and providing exposure for their companies at a national level. Particpant Bronagh Flanagan said of the programme; “The contacts I have made in the south are being used on a daily business to access new markets and I have hugely expanded my current list of suppliers which means I can produce more efficiently and creatively”.

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