Sustainable fashion in Brazil expands operations in the international market

(PRESS RELEASE) MILAN, 26-Aug-2022 — /EuropaWire/ — The conscious consumption market is a reality. According to Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), consumers have spent more than seven billion hours online searching for “sustainable”, “ethical”, “fair trade” and “eco-friendly” items (2020). The latest Research and Markets report (2022) indicates that ethical fashion reached a value of US$5.84 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach US$8.3 billion by 2025. 

Operating in this segment, Brasil Eco Fashion (BEF) has been carrying out trade missions involving brands that participate in the Brasil Eco Fashion Week (BEFW), a national sustainable fashion week that has been taking place since 2017 in São Paulo. The platform gained authority by bringing together brands and products guided by sustainability, social responsibility and circularity where good production practices economically strengthen a new market. 

Rafael Morais, executive director of BEF, highlights that the first international action was carried out at home. In 2018, it held the first Business Round, inviting buyers from Europe to the event. In 2020 and 2021, the Round was held online due to the global pandemic. These and other actions have always been supported by the Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program (Texbrasil) conducted by the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit) in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil). 

From the business roundtables in Brazil to the commercialization of products abroad 

In 2021, as a first action towards the internationalization of brands, BEF crossed the border and held fashion shows in the main week of the luxury circuit: Milan Fashion Week, in Italy. In July 2022, he set up a sales stand at Premium Berlin, considered the largest contemporary fashion fair in Europe. The fashion show in Milan and the trade mission in Germany had the partnership of the Brazilian Association of the Sustainable Fashion Industry (Abrimos), in addition to TexBrasil. 

The brands Demodê, from Maranhão, embarked on the mission and exhibited products at Premium Berlin; Natural Cotton Color, from Paraíba; Dotz, Raquel de Queiroz Joias and Trópicca de São Paulo; and Vestô, from Rio de Janeiro. Germany was chosen for being a reference in the areas of sustainability and technology. For Morais, the country has a mature environment and is open to new proposals. “There is genuine interest in the topic. More than 40% of consumers consider that sustainability plays a big role in the purchase decision”, explained the executive. 

According to Morais, this is an opportune moment to conquer the international market. Since 2021, European Union regulations have been posing challenges for the fashion industry, which is responsible for up to 10% of CO2 emissions – the main cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming. “New sustainability requirements in the supply chain are being demanded. We are opening up the market in Europe by offering processes, products and even raw materials”, he explains.

The BEF platform showcased six sustainable fashion brands at Premium Berlin, a 160,000 m2 event. The Premium Group brought together two fairs: Premium and Seek, where more than 80 brands with a sustainability concept were gathered. There was also the Fashiontech conference, focused on the future of virtual worlds, and new spaces such as the Conscious Club Conference and The Ground Talks, with 85 speakers who presented topics such as diversity, well-being, Metaverse and sustainability. 

“We have created a holistic fashion ecosystem that is future-proof,” said Anita Tillmann, managing partner of Grupo Premium. She highlights that Premium is attentive to urgent and emerging demands such as the climate crisis and changing values ​​and new industry cycles. In addition to topics on gender equality, diversity, the metaverse and NFTs. “These are just some of the areas that fashion is dealing with,” she added. 

“Premium Berlin presented a hybrid fair open to consumers. Without comparing the proportion of the event, Brasil Eco Fashion Week has been doing this since 2017”, emphasizes Morais. Fashion is a cross-cutting industry with complex value chains, with designers, apparel, retailers and wholesalers. It also has information spaces (magazines and fashion schools) and circulation spaces such as congresses, fairs and fashion shows. For Morais, everything is part of the cultural and economic power of fashion. “It’s only natural that more and more events are holistic,” she says. In the last in-person edition, Brasil Eco Fashion Week received more than 7000 visitors and attracted international speakers who are a reference in sustainable fashion, such as researchers and authors Alison Gwilt (Australia) and Kate Fletcher (United Kingdom), entrepreneurs Lígia Zottin, from VERT Shoes (France), Johannes Schoenegge from Bananatex (Switzerland), Paulo Salgado from Sampless (Portugal), among others. 

ABOUT BRASIL ECO FASHION WEEK 

The sustainable fashion week, a free event open to the public, features themed spaces and educational and inspirational content, fashion shows, workshops, showrooms, business roundtables, exhibitions, interactivity and entrepreneurship activities.

The event brings together topics such as organic crops, material certifications, conscious consumption, Amazon fashion, bio design, upcycling techniques, textile recycling, business models for circular fashion and collaborative fashion, practices of transparency, diversity, activism, inclusion and commerce. fairness, innovation and technologies for sustainability.

Entries for brand showrooms and the fashion show line up are defined through public notices. Companies are selected by curatorship.

In 2022, BEFW has master sponsorship from Lojas Renner S/A and Mercado Livre. The event has been held in partnership with Unibes Cultural since the first edition and continues to look for new partners. 

Contact for interviews: imprensa@befw.com.br

WhatsApp: +55 11 94573-7923

More photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SI2zKRfW5s_uKLACXUyuN9BizDPQFR0R?usp=sharing

ATTACHMENT

Brands that participated in the trade mission in Berlin, Germany 

@demode_atelie
Demodê Atelier: https://demodeatelie.com/

Orgânica, north eastern and artisanal, DEMODÊ is motivated by comfort. The brand based in São Luís, Maranhão, creates clothes that respect the diversity of bodies and, therefore, develops its own models. The company works with organic cotton and local handicrafts, generating positive impacts throughout the production process. 

@natural_cotton_color
https://naturalcottoncolor.com.br/

The Paraíba brand works with timeless pieces in tailoring and uses certified organic Paraíba colored cotton and local crafts as a base. Cotton, whose plume is already born in beige, brown and green colors, is grown in the semi-arid region without irrigation. As it already has color and does not require dyeing, it saves 87.5% of water compared to the conventional process in the industry. The brand stands out for its innovation in the development of exclusive fabrics such as Denim (coloured without dyeing) and cotton jacquard with silk, in addition to knitwear and sweatshirts that supply its own production and also other sustainable fashion companies. 

@raqueldequeirozjoias
www.raqueldequeirozjoias.com

Conscience and contemporaneity define the style of artistic jewellery inspired by the exuberance and creativity of Brazil and contemporary design. In her creative process, designer Raquel combines handcrafted textiles with silver. From wool, silk and organic cotton produced in artisanal arrangements led by women in various parts of the country. They are rings, bracelets, brooches and necklaces made with silver obtained in a metal recovery process where there are waste control processes. 

@_tropicca
www.tropicca.com.br

The artisan-made brand produces hand-woven fabrics in sustainable communities in southern Brazil, encouraging handicrafts as a cultural expression.

The tropical climate and colours are poetically narrated in their products. The choice of materials prioritizes local and biodegradable fibres, such as jute, banana and coconut fibre. It also uses other materials, always aiming at low environmental impact, such as recycled cotton and rubber and unusual materials such as cassette and VHS tapes. 

@sejavesto
www.vestobrasil.com

Vestô defends fair, sustainable and purposeful fashion. That’s why it uses only organic and sustainable fabrics produced in Brazil. The pieces are made with natural dyes extracted from vegetables. It works in partnership with small producers and communities in the Cerrado region, in Campos do Sul, in the Amazon and in the Brazilian Sertão. In this way, it brings the small producer closer to the final consumer, helping to generate family income for the communities involved without jeopardizing their traditions and the balance of nature with which they live and interact.

SOURCE: BRASIL ECO FASHION WEEK