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IXEL MODA - THE CONGRESS
IXEL MODA is the only congress of the Wardrobe Universe in Latin America, a point of integration for the fashion industry and the meeting space between the academy and the productive cycle. This congress offers its assistants the tools to develop competences facing the new sceneries in productivity and competitiveness, fomenting entrepreneurship and employment from the creative sector under the frame on sustainability. 2. Story of the event and Background of the sector IXEL MODA was born as a response to the needs found inside the clothing cluster universe, after making various marketing researches. It is indeed an initiative from the private sector in alliance with the Cartagena Chamber of Commerce and supported by the Colombian ministry of foreign relations, national education, commerce industry and tourism, the latter one through the offices of Proexport and The National Fund of Tourism. This event has also had since its beginnings the support of INEXMODA, the institute for fashion exports, Cotelco and CICAVB (Cartagena de Indias Convention and Visitors Bureau) and since 2009s´edition, The City Hall of Cartagena and the Tourism Corporation of Cartagena have become official godfathers of the event.
How the idea is born. After working for more tan 10 years in the designing and operation of corporative events, many of them associated with the fashion industry; the entrepreneur Erika Rohenes initiated the project that soon became the first and unique congress of Wardrobe and Clothing of Latin America. The experience of this Colombian comes from: first, as the one in charge for the launching of new collections for renowned designers in Colombia such as Francesca Miranda and Judy Hazbún; second, as the organizer for famous runways of well known brands such as Levis, Girbaud, Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, Carlos Pinel among many others; and third, as the coordinator and producer of runways for Department Stores ‘own brands such as Súper Almacenes Olímpica and Vivero (today Éxito); all of these took her to create in 2004 Plataforma K, an event organized in association with Barranquilla Chamber of Commerce in order to strengthen the textile and confections sector and encourage the new figures in fashion and design coming from the Colombian Caribbean Region. Sometime later, after leaving the direction of Plataforma K, where she stayed for more than 2 years, in August 2006, Erika Rohenes conceived and structured a new project: IXEL MODA. She invited Luis Angarita, Colombian industrial designer, director of the specialization in Strategic Design and Innovation in Pontificia Bolivariana University in Medellin and responsible for several projects for companies in Europe such as Philips-Whirlpool, Salvatore Ferragamo, Ferrari, Nestle, Levis, among others, was the one Erika chose to build with her and with a design specialized team, the brand of the congress (brand, symbol, logotype, image manual and experience). She also convinced Danilo Cañizares, professional in Fashion Design, specialized in Marketing Management, Industrial Programming for Collections and Marketing Research in Consumer Evolution, to be the one in charge of the Direction of the contents of the event. After 18 months of preparation with The Chamber of Commerce of Cartagena, in February 2008 the Congress for the Clothing Sector was made for the first time in Cartagena de Indias, as the Hosting City.
Why a Congress? 2 concerns were the main motivations for the creation of this congress; the first one, the preparation of business men and professionals of the fashion industry and the second one, the lack of links between the academy and the productive sector. It is clear that the work must be made together: the academy, productive sector and the government, from there the importance of a space of meeting and dissertation. Entrepreneurs have today a great number of possibilities to open new markets through tens of trade shows around the world, some more demanding than the others. The ones that exist in Latin America barely attend the necessities that in this sense the entrepreneurs have. The problem does not lie in the lack of commercial media but in knowing how to take advantage of them. In Colombia, for example, the institute for fashion exports, INEXMODA, with PROEXPORT, have been playing a crucial role during the last 20 years. Thanks to Colombiatex and Colombiamoda, two trade shows organized by this institute and considered today as one of the most significant fairs of Latin America, were many entrepreneurs get the chance to sell their goods to other countries, and through this, make part of other fairs or trade shows on an international scale. However, and despite all of these important efforts and achievements, a great number of entrepreneurs that participate in this fairs do not get to make good use of the opportunities as it should be because many times they don´t have the information with them, nor de training or adequate education to make it happen. Moreover, the assistance to seminars, workshops and conferences proposed throughout the year is really low. This is mainly linked to the fact that the companies that conform the sector, mainly familiar companies, empiric and of small-medium size, in occasions lead their attention more to the “exact business” than to the entrepreneurial structure and this is why all of the training and education goes to another level when talking about priorities. Nevertheless, with globalization some entrepreneurs have begun to take this into advantage and now at days it is essential to star doing company and not only business and this is a conviction that must be generated from the academy, the starting point. On another hand, the great separation between the academy and the productive sector is, without a doubt one of the main elements for the disaggregation of the cluster. The contents proposed for the academic programs little satisfy the punctual necessities of the companies, that is why the job offers today result unattractive for employers. The expectations for young ones many times has been frustrated due to the reality of the market today; a great majority receive their diploma with the only purpose of becoming a “renowned designer”, forgetting all of the other alternatives and possible opportunities out there. The programs have been oriented, in its majority, to production, intelligence and architecture of collection themes, leaving behind marketing and production commercialization. There is no clarity in the diagnose, the necessities of the market are not established as a priority and the product design ends up being custom made by the one who offers it and not by the one who demands it. All of this generates great concerns towards the orientation of the educative competences that must be proposed into a global plan. This is why Ixel opens a space to become the appropriate atmosphere in order to drive proposals intended to train the whole cluster and harmonize in topics of interest and the development of new politics in an educative way and to find the strengthening of the business sector. The Great Basin of The Caribbean as the starting point. The countries belonging to the Basin of the Caribbean have shared its history, politics, culture and from there the process of integration of the region, who culturally, for example, this region has always been seen under the same creative light. Due its geographic location, there are no fall-winter seasons in this region, it is always more like spring-summer the whole year, and as many describe it, it is called the “eternal summer”. For many years this fact twisted the proposals of designers, but in order to compete in international markets, it is necessary to open the spectrum, without losing the Latin essence which is finally the differentiator component, but to present the economic community a new bloc, maybe more creative and less industrialized but with a great commercial strength. This is how a Project was formulated, in its beginnings, pretended to integrate only the Great Basin of the Caribbean; however, after several results obtained in the first edition, the congress found that it covered certain emptiness found in the whole Latin American region and that it was necessary to take into account, under one mantel, the whole region. Latin America as the scenery. When talking about Latin America, we do not refer only to a geographical context, but also to the group of nations that include a diversity in origin, histories, cultures and languages, but who also congregate into a same identity that have taken the region to create the idea of Latin America as a “one great mother country” The experience of the Latin America and the Caribbean countries in a growing globalized world during the last decade show that it is necessary to undertake active policies in order to enter the worlds ‘economy; for that, results indispensable unite efforts and present shared opinions to the international community. The formation of regional blocs and the advances in regional integration will contribute to the credibility of those joined proposals. This is how different sectors of the economy have begun to work in group, and fashion could not be an exception. “Latin America has been occupying each time an outstanding place in the sector, in recent years countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia have consolidated an industry that employs around 40 million persons in the world, according to estimations by The ICFU (American Labor Union Federation), this generates commercial exchanges superior to USD$400.000 million per year. At a low pace but with safe step, these countries of the region have been developing in this business, through the creation and exhibition of their own designs, fabrics and autochthonous textures; accessories and jewelry. However, in order for a nation to be able to enhance its fashion industry, it is necessary, above all, to have important consolidated factories: textile, shoe, and a network of confection shops. In this sense, like the congress, Ixel awaits to gather under the same conceptual marc the criteria and addressing of the regions macro-sector.
(*)Published by Araújo Ibarra & Asocciates S.A. – COLOMBIA. Source: América economía 18/09/09.
Facts that influenced the development of the contents proposed. Under the two great sceneries proposed: the academic and the business one, three main focus are the ones that take up the congress: first, the product development, consumption intelligence and fashion marketing; second, the communication and fashion journalism; and third, the sectors politics. Regarding the first focus, we found that the branding processes require long term plans, and for that, strategies that get along with the plan. These point results of such an importance in sectors like the fashion one or the technological products, who encounter themselves under a fast product development dynamic, but at the same time are subject to a brand narrative. The scenery construction method enables to visualize future alternatives that facilitate the process of brand building, minimizing the risks and optimizing the investment in the narrative display. Several scenery construction methods exist, focused on different ambits of strategic thinking (understanding the design under this same thought) and lapse of time. Some questions are brought up when scenery construction rises: What do the actual consumer behaviors say to us about future tendencies? What impact do determined factors will have on the way of producing and consuming? With what probability will determined tendencies consolidate? In what way can I minimize risks when investing in a brand, but also in infrastructure, technology, etc? Can I anticipate to the market? The detained observations of some phenomenons in actual design fasten the comprehension on diverse tendencies on future consumption. On another hand, today other concepts in fashion enter to play an important role when proposing fashion concepts, such as Fashion Consumer Intelligence: Strategic Tendencies Design. This concept is one of the most appreciated models of work used now at days not only to analyze markets, establish branding strategies but also to formulate short, medium and long term strategies applicable to products, campaigns, brands and business models. Originated after World War II from the Style Offices, evolved in the Tendencies Laboratories of the 80´s and today as the Design Laboratories, this model brings precise solutions linking the cultural factors to business models and product architecture. There are indeed many elements on which there is much to work on for the asserted product development that can compete in globalized markets, and our entrepreneurs must know them and manage them well. Concerning the second focus, the problem of the sector has been more evident each time. The lacking of specialized education programs in fashion communication have taken the media to delegate the covering of all the events and fashion activities to the hands of journalists who generally cover entertainment, fashion and social news.
Some of them, for conviction or vocation, have taken the time to investigate and study the complex world of fashion, the anthropological and cultural connotations and the repercussions in the psychological (emotions) and social (relations) functions of the human being; some of them have had the chance to travel and visit mass trade shows and international fashion weeks; this, of course, has given them the experience that converts them in “specialists in fashion”. Nevertheless, there is still much emptiness in the fashion communication subject, taking into account that the academy in this field has barely begun to exist. Last but not least, in reference to the third focus, Sectorial policies, there are several matters that must be boarded related to the internal development of the sector and its exports. Continuing with the Colombian example, the opening of the Colombian economy during former president Cesar Gavirias´ administration, different leaders have included in their government working plans to support each of the sectors of the economy. The textile sector is no exception that is why today we talk about having clear plans of expansion and opportunities for industrials that include the extensions of the ATPDEA, the free trade agreements signed with USA, Central America and the European Community. Market investigations talk about the importance of developing own brands taking into account that the worldwide tendency is to move the working force to other destinations due the technological difficulties and to the cost of working hand this country has. With this scenery is important to determine what is the projection that Colombia has as country and region. All of these are aspects that must be treated every time due the constant changes that are made with them. Objectives of the congress:
(*) General Managers or Brand Managers, designers, assessors and persons involved in the creative process, manufacture process, marketing and commercialization of fashion products.
Sustainable development, more than a punctual subject. Historically speaking, one of the main indicators to measure the level of development of a country or region was through the production growth; however, in the last decades, this parameter has been revaluated after analyzing the non visible costs that this implies. The production necessarily reduces the finite reserves of raw materials and energy, while it saturates the capacity equally finite of the ecosystems with the wastes that result of its processes. This is how we have been subject to a new reality: the present production is still growing in harm of the future production, and in danger of a fragile and threatened environment. The point then is to know how to produce, redirect the production process and application of the knowledge into the formation of professional abilities that lead to the optimization of the utilization and reutilization of the resources. This is how de sustainable development concept is born, derived from the called Eco-development and generalized during the second half of the 80's with the "Brundtland inform" at the Rio de Janeiro environmental summit. This is the ideological formula through which governors, technocrats and industrials wish to be able to continue their productivity after making the ecological corrections of the industrial system that today is totally essential. Latin America could not be alien to these whole waves of changes and initiatives; from the southern cone and Brazil several networks of collaboration involved in this topic have begun. Taking into advantage the great impact on media that fashion has, important brands in Latin America have added to this purpose calling into attention not only the global warming but other punctual phenomenon. As the Latin American Congress for the Wardrobe Macro-Sector, our main goal is to train the new generations in fashion into the creation and strengthening of much more productive companies, more competitive with a better position in the international negotiation field, leaders in the development of their regions and in the social commitment with their context. From the Organization, we have assumed this commitment as our own and in the 2009 academic agenda, the Sustainable Development topic was a priority, focusing our areas of intelligence and fashion architecture, marketing and commercialization towards de implementation of this ideological core. For 2010, and beyond this a subject that, more than been a punctual topic, it’s the background or contextual framework of the whole congress.
MORE PICTURES (PAST EVENTS) - PDF Summary of 2010 Statistics:
Ixel Moda 2010 Assistants: More than14.500 assistants to runways and in public activities: Assistants registered o the Congress:
Origin of the assistants: Participating countries: Participating cities from Colombia: Profile of the assistants to the academic agenda: 940 assistants to the academic program: Profile Description: Entrepreneurs: Small and medium companies of the confections and fashion sector; designers, fashion producers.
Results of the evaluation poll applied to speakers and sponsors. Favorability average: 90,3% (October 14 of 2010) Free Press: Invited Journalists Profile: |
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