Five days of events, 32 fashion shows (10 of them international), 8 professional events, two fashion presentations, an industrial itinerary, as well as exhibitions and live performances, 37 designers, 14 labels and around 20,000 people involved, including professional visitors, the press and production and backstage teams. This is how the 53rd edition of Portugal Fashion can be summed up in figures. A balance of success, overcoming and resistance, where the Electric Car Museum emerges as a surprising epicenter of fashion, industry and lifestyle. As a showcase for the “fashion hub” that lies “behind the scenes”, Portugal Fashion once again democratized access to designer fashion with street shows, events throughout the city, industrial shows and events (jewelry, footwear, sustainable fashion and an installation on circular fashion), as well as visits to production companies and a “Talk and office Tour” at Farfetch’s Creative Operations offices.
The spring-summer 2024 collections of emerging fashion designers (Espaço Bloom), footwear and clothing brands and established designers such as Alexandra Moura, David Catalán, Estelita Mendonça, Hugo Costa, Luís Onofre, Miguel Vieira, Pedro Pedro and Susana Bettencourt, among others, were unveiled at the former Massarelos thermoelectric power station. A highlight was Judy Sanderson, a South African based in Porto who, after making her debut at the event as part of the CANEX program in 2022, now presented her collection in her own fashion show. Also noteworthy was the innovative participation of Ernest W. Baker, who organized a night-time happening at the Passos Manuel bar. Hugo Costa and Huarte, on the other hand, surprised us by presenting their collections in daylight and outdoors, on Rua do Ouro, next to the Douro river.
As in previous editions, Portugal Fashion once again served as a hub for promoting African fashion in Europe and for promoting Portuguese fashion in African markets. This was all part of the CANEX program (acronym for Creative Africa Nexus), which was born out of a partnership established in 2021 between ANJE, through Portugal Fashion, and the African export-import bank Afreximbank. The partnership saw the participation of 10 African designers, who thus took advantage of the event’s know-how, notoriety and promotional capacity, as well as the connection between the city of Porto and the competitive textile and clothing industry in the northern region. So far, the CANEX program has supported 70 designers from 26 African and Caribbean countries.
“It’s a diverse program, designed with the clear aim of giving prestige to Portugal Fashion, Portuguese fashion and the city of Porto. The well-known funding impasse has reinforced our goal of demonstrating resilience in promoting the various sectors of the fashion industry, from creative design to industrial production, including the strength of the fashion tech industry that has been setting up in Porto, through the involvement of Farfetch,” said Mónica Neto, director of Portugal Fashion.
“It is in the face of adversity that we become stronger in affirming Portugal Fashion’s strategic relevance. A positioning distinguished by the unique industrial connection and competitiveness that the link between designers and industry provides us with is what we believe to be the key to the future. And so we become increasingly global, also giving more and more stage to designers and labels who choose Porto to launch their brands. In short, the key words are: constant investment in young talent, industry and internationalization,” she said.
Portugal Fashion event may be the last due to delays in EU funding
Based on the government’s promise of funding for Portugal Fashion in October last year, the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE) went ahead with the latest editions of the event. However, delays in the process of awarding the promised European funds have been putting pressure on the association’s accounts, and next year it admits that it won’t be able to repeat the effort made so far, because it would mean jeopardizing ANJE’s financial viability.
The event was traditionally 85% financed by European funds, but funding didn’t come through for the last editions in October 2022, March 2023 and October 2023, because the Portugal 2030 framework still has no open applications. The notice is expected to be issued in April 2024. The next edition of Portugal Fashion will take place in March. However, the association continues to believe that it will find a solution together with the government, given the strategic importance of Portugal Fashion.
This year’s editions have only been possible thanks to ANJE’s efforts and the help of private and institutional partners. It is therefore essential for the association to thank all the sponsors, especially Porto City Council and Mayor Rui Moreira, for all their support.
For the association, all this effort has shown that Portugal Fashion mobilizes many entities and players in the fashion sector, and beyond, who firmly believe in the relevance and necessity of the project. In ANJE’s view, throwing in the towel would have a considerable impact on the activity of designers and labels whose success depends to a large extent on the support of Portugal Fashion, as well as all the work that has been done over the years.
ANJE has always been supported through EU funds, given the importance of the work carried out by the association in key areas for the Portuguese economy, namely in areas such as entrepreneurship, the internationalization of national projects and even innovation.
With regard to Portugal Fashion, its importance has been recognized not only for the Northern region but also for the various sectors of the Portuguese economy, not least because it is the only project that promotes designer fashion in conjunction with ‘made in Portugal’ at an international level. It should be remembered that, in Portugal, much of what should be public support for economic activity is left to EU funds. In other countries, this area is defined as strategic support, allocating specific funds to the fashion sector, including particular attention to designer fashion and its specificities.
Despite having managed to continue with the national editions, ANJE has already been forced to suspend its usual international itinerary of fashion shows, a pause that has a significant impact on the internationalization results achieved by Portugal Fashion and, consequently, on the evolutionary processes of national designers on a global scale. Conquering the official calendars of the most prestigious international fashion weeks is a task that has required years of consistency, networking and credibility. It is an effort that has been worked on as part of a broader strategy that reconciles the promotional scope of the fashion shows with the commercial dynamics of showrooms and fairs, thus resulting in the conquest of points of sale for national brands. Portugal Fashion’s international shows have been suspended since the end of the first quarter of 2022.
According to a study carried out by the Catholic University of Porto, which was published last year, Portugal Fashion has generated (despite the pandemic that has affected the last two years, which has prevented PF events from running normally): An impact of 45.4 million euros on Portuguese Gross Value Added; supported between 170 and 449 jobs annually; in the pre-pandemic period, annually, the impact always exceeded 10 million euros in Gross Value Added and around 400 jobs (in some editions it exceeded this figure).
