Paper**so far**
Intro
“Colombia has become one of the main fashion centers in Latin America, featuring trade shows such as Colombiatex and Colombiamoda, which bring together companies from several countries to display the advantages, quality, design and major developments of the fashion industry.” Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce (2008). Not many would think that Colombia, a third world country, a country seen to the eyes of the world as a country full of illegal drugs and guerrilla, would be a country that has evolved into having a world full of couture, designers, and high end fashion shows. This research is going to focus on showing what Colombian fashion is today, and where it has evolved from. In this project, I will show Colombian fashion trough my eyes; I will compare the different focuses of designers, of fashion shows, and textiles that Colombia has today.
Colombia has grown from being only a supplier of textile, to now being recognized as having both a strong textiles industry and an apparel industry. (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2007) Colombian fashion started with huge textile companies that over the years have contributed to what now is a very lucrative fashion industry. Colombian fashion now has four fashion weeks a year. Two of these fashion shows are held in Medellin they are called Colombiatex, and Colombiamoda. Bogota’s fashion week is called Expomoda, and finally Cali’s fashion week is called Exposhow. In addition to having a year full of fashion weeks, Colombia also has great designers that have represented Colombia in not only South American fashion shows but also in New York City’s fashion week, Prague, Miami and Milan. Designers such as Esteban Cortazar, Hernan Zajar, and Silvia Tscherassi are some of the biggest names in Colombian fashion. Throughout the rest of paper I will show their collections, collections that have made these designers famous all around the world.
The Colombian fashion industry is an industry that has been growing over the past one hundred years, and today it generates more than 600.000 jobs nation wide. (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2008) The fashion industry is an industry that is growing very fast not only in Colombia but world wide. Colombia’s economy however, it is slowly becoming more stable allowing consumers to becoming interested in buying couture designs. I have also noticed that outside countries have had a major influence in Colombians development.
Lil review
Colombian fashion has barely any research done about it; however, the information I have found is very interesting and explanatory about the industry. There were two articles in particular that I found very interesting. They are both a little out of date, one is written in 2007 and the other one in 2008, yet they both contain information that I consider very valuable for my research.
Both articles are written by Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce. The article from 2008 explains how both the textile and apparel industries in Colombia have grown over the years. The article mentions Colombiamoda, which is one of the biggest fashion weeks of Colombia. According to Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce Colombiamoda generated $72 million dollars worth of business opportunities in their 2007 show. Furthermore $23.178 million we done deals during the event. Not only has Colombiamoda generated some serious business for Colombia’s economy but it has also brought more than a thousand buyers from out side countries to view the newest Colombian trends. All through the article the city of Medellin is always mentioned, this is due to the big influence that Medellin has in the industry of Colombian fashion. “Medellin has traditionally dominated the textile market with the largest textile mills and garment manufacturers for distribution throughout Colombia, and sizeable export quantities to Vene-zuela, Ecuador, Central America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, and the USA.” (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2008) Medellin accounts today for 53% of Colombian textile production and 35% of the apparel production. (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
The article written in 2007 although it contains much of the same information, it also contains some new information about the fashion industry of Colombia. “Colombia is recognized internationally as a country which possesses great
strengths in the textile and apparel businesses and, specifically, in the fashion
industry.” (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2007) It is great to see that Colombia is recognized for their fashion since to be completely honest I had never heard about it outside of Colombia. Since the textile industry was the one who let the way into what the fashion industry is today in Colombia, it is also mentioned in this article. The article describes the textile industry as being both sophisticated and mature and as having five integrated mills that generate the majority of the textiles in Colombia. (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2007) Colombia has an excellent geographical location which allows both exports and imports to any part of the world. Because of the imports that Colombia has been receiving in the past couple of years the local apparel companies have had to cut down on the items they offer. (Swiss Colombian Chamber of Commerce, 2007)
****more sources to come****
Methodology
Since the information I have right now is some what out of date, and the perception of the photographs is all mine, I want to have in my research other people’s points of view. What I plan to do is to interview at least two designers from Colombia that can give their insight about the industry currently. After this, I will like to have the outsiders prospective on the development of the fashion industry over the years and how they see the fashion industry today. For this, I will interview members of my family, and perhaps friends to get a better understanding on what they see Colombian fashion to be.
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1.
alwoodaysafgbq |
April 12, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Hey Aly, I jsut got done reading and editing your paper and I think that you have done a really great JOB