Ethiopia: AUC hosts Africa's edition of 2017 Africa Fashion Reception

30 Septembre 2017

ADDIS ABEBA,  Ethiopia, September  30 (Infosplusgabon) - The two-day Africa Fashion Reception (AFR) ended on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It brought together stakeholders in infrastructural development and wealth creation for Africa through the creative industry of fashion.

In partnership with the African Union and UNESCO, the Legendary Gold Limited (Nigeria) presented, at the occasion, the 4th edition of the Africa Fashion Reception.

During the show, the AFR showcased Africa’s best and most creative designers, producers of shoes, bags, jewelries, make up, beauty and hair products to the global market.

To be eligible to participate, these products were locally sourced and produced in Africa with global best practice.

The AFR is aimed at achieving the following objectives using the creative industry of fashion as a vehicle:

To build bridges by creating free trade and partnerships among fashion practitioners across the African continent;

To attract global attention to Africa’s very rich and diversified dress culture which can be explored as a catalyst for the social economic growth of the continent’s garment/textile industry;

To expand the potential power of fashion as a tool of fighting poverty in Africa by creating wealth through the empowerment of women and youths in the various fashion vocations through training, capacity building schemes, workshops and setting up of medium/small scale businesses thereby supporting the African Union Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;

To bring about self-reliance as this initiative will create millions of jobs across the continent for Tailors, Creative Directors, Textile designers, Models, Cutters, Pressers, Fashion Photographers & Writers, Hair Stylists, Make-up Artists etc.;

To contribute in bringing the much desired peace and stability to our continent by positively engaging the youths as stated above – creating jobs; and

To further develop African economies by creating the biggest and most formidable African fashion and lifestyle market for global patronage.

The show this year was hosted in the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. This is usually the first AFR event of the year. The global edition comes up in Paris, France.

During the AFR, the 2nd Africa Fashion Business Summit was addressed by international fashion experts. The theme for this year’s summit was ‘Creating Wealth for African Economies through its Fashion, Garment and Textile Industry’.

It addressed the following issues:

The problems being faced by practitioners in the clothing industry from across the continent with the goal of finding solutions to them;

Developing infrastructures in the garment industry which will create lots of jobs across the continent; and

To create opportunities for practitioners across the continent to access the global market hereby attracting foreign exchange to Africa.

The Keynote Speaker this year was the world renowned fashion consultant, Mr. Anton Dell. He spoke on “Best Export Practice – 100% practical guide on selling African fashion successfully in the global market”.

There was also an exhibition of clothing items and fashion accessories by the participating countries.

At the Africa Fashion Reception (AFR) official launch in 2013 in Paris, France, 13 designers from 13 African countries were featured. In 2014, 17 designers from 17 African countries participated. Last year’s event featured 20 designers from 20 African countries. The AFR organizes 2 events annually. The African and global editions usually hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa and UNESCO in Paris respectively.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/EZR/GABON 2017

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