From September 16 to 18, the 22nd International Fashion Exhibition Central Asia Fashion Autumn 2018 will be held in Almaty at the Atakent exhibition complex. This is the key event of the season for representatives of the fashion business of Central Asia. Every year the event clearly shows that the interest of foreign manufacturers of clothing, shoes and accessories in the market of the Central Asian region is only growing.

11 years ago, the exhibition Central Asia Fashion was created as a platform that promotes easy establishment of contacts between suppliers and retailers. The exhibition successfully copes with its main task. Over the past years, thousands of business ties have been established, hundreds of contracts and deals have been concluded for the supply of products from foreign manufacturers to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. More than 100 foreign companies from 12 countries of the world took part in the exhibition held in the spring of 2018. Brands from Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Moldova, Croatia and Russia were widely represented. Women's, men's and children's clothing, shoes, hats, leather and fur products, evening dresses and accessories remained popular sections of the exhibition. This year, sewing equipment was presented for the first time, a segment of clothing for pregnant women appeared.

Companies engaged in the production of designer and author's goods also show interest in the exhibition.Here they have the opportunity to find distributors interested in promoting their brands in Central Asian countries. In the spring at Central Asia Fashion, the XD Design and Solh brands of designer Elena Hashim, Olga Shyrai and Avalon of designer Evgeny Pankratov demonstrated their collections.

All three days of the exhibition, participants present their collections on the podium.

The number of regional profile representatives who visited the exhibition this year has increased by 2 times. A special program Hosted Buyers Program plays an important role in the wide coverage of buyers. According to this program, the company Catexpo, the organizer of the exhibition, pays for accommodation and transfer to Almaty for buyers from the regions. Also, program participants can get a unique service and additional opportunities when preparing and visiting the exhibition, organizing individual meetings with the top officials of exhibiting companies. In March of this year, visitors from the CIS countries and the Central Asian region and 23 cities of Kazakhstan took part in the bayer program.

Central Asia Fashion helps to solve the main issues of organizing the supply of the latest collections of world brands. Here you can get acquainted with the latest fashion trends, pre-order or purchase collections, discover new supplier companies, establish business contacts with their representatives, as well as take part in discussions where market experts regularly assess the state of Kazakhstani retail and tell about successful examples of company promotion.

With the development of the fashion market, there is a need for training specialists working in the field of fashion business. That is why, for the first time in 2011, a business program was organized at Central Asia Fashion, the speakers of which have extensive experience in various business areas, from organizing purchases and managing retail outlets to increasing sales. At the spring exhibition, in a B2B panel discussion, participants discussed global trends that could change modern retail in the near future. Non-standard and conflict situations between customers and visitors, store assortment management, the use of Youtube for sales, etc. also became important issues. The educational project «Fashion School» continues its work, within the framework of which practical recommendations are given by specialists of the «Academy of Retail Technologies» (Moscow).

The international exhibition Central Asia Fashion is intended only for a professional audience and promotes constructive dialogue and business development between participants and visitors. It has established itself as an important event that selects the best practices and the most promising business technologies and constantly discovers and analyzes the main directions of fashion retail development.

Photo: Catexpo