Trade show organiser Messe Frankfurt is continuing to expand its portfolio of textile trade fairs on the African continent with its collaboration this week on two events in Morocco.
The Maroc in Mode and Maroc Sourcing events showcase around 120 exhibitors from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, China and a number of Western European countries and specialise in fast fashion, denim, lingerie and knitwear, sports and casualwear, workwear and accessories.
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Messe Frankfurt is cooperating with AMITH (Association Marocaine des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement), the organiser of the event, which takes place at the Exhibition Park Hassan Circuit in Marrakesh.
Morocco’s proximity to important fashion markets such as the EU, various free trade agreements, and recent economic growth create a secure business climate and offers great potential for the clothing trade, the companies say.
Messe Frankfurt last month acquired two of South Africa’s largest textile, footwear and apparel shows – Source Africa and the ATF Apparel, Textile & Footwear Trade Exhibition – both of which take place in Cape Town in South Africa.
And in Ethiopia, offshoots of its Texworld, Apparel Sourcing and Texprocess trade fairs have been integrated into the Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week for the first time.
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By GlobalData“In future, our network will extend across important textile regions in Africa and encompass the leading trade fairs on the emerging continent,” explains Olaf Schmidt, vice president textiles and textile technologies at Messe Frankfurt.
“With our commitment to Ethiopia, South Africa and, in future, Morocco, we have created excellent conditions to support the positive developments in Africa’s textile industry.”
The event organiser is optimistic that Africa is ideally placed to take advantage of a number of key opportunities.
Research by McKinsey & Co identifies a number of countries in Africa as key destinations for apparel, textiles and footwear, including: South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Egypt.
Moreover, the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) until 2025 gives another boost to the region as it significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. While many countries are taking advantage of AGOA, there are many that are still not realising its true potential.
