On October 5, the Second International Fashion Forum, held with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and the Government of St. Petersburg, completed its work at the St. Petersburg ARTPLAY SPb Design Center.

The forum brought together a wide range of fashion industry professionals, well-known designers, foreign experts, representatives of fashion retail and industry business, leading light industry enterprises, as well as heads of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, representatives of financial and consulting circles. It became a serious discussion and presentation platform, which hosted numerous events - plenary sessions, panel discussions, round tables, workshops, fashion shows, master classes prepared by the organizers. The main topics for discussion this year were:cluster development of production, online and offline trade, the specifics of working with the world's leading retailers and buyers, the use of graphic design taking into account global trends.

The key event of the Forum was the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and the European Institute of Design. This step will allow the parties to exchange information necessary to achieve mutually beneficial goals, conduct joint scientific and business events, as well as implement joint projects both on the territory of the Russian Federation and the Italian Republic.

An important initiative was the inclusion of Russian designers in the program of the factory Ratti (Italy), proposed by the head of SolstudioTextileDesign Alexandra Kaloshina and Alessandro Colombo, Director of production of women's and men's clothing Ratti. According to the program, young aspiring designers will be able to purchase fabrics from the Ratti factory to create their own collections, at a special price of 1 euro per meter.

The discussions held at the Forum and devoted to the main trends in the fashion world, the development of design, the creation of their own brand and its promotion, were attended by the founders of their own fashion houses Alena Akhmadullina, Igor Chapurin, Victoria Andreyanova and Asya Kogel, director of the Fashion House LiliaKisselenko Irina Selyuta, professor, Vice-President of the Union of Designers of Russia Victoria Semenova, President of the International Buyers Association InternationalBuyersHub Georgy Rostovshchikov, as well as foreign guests– CEO of the TextielMuseum in Tilburg (Netherlands) Errol Van de Werdt, representatives of the Portuguese textile factory Luis Azavedo.

All days of the forum were accompanied by fashion shows. More information about the results of the Forum can be found on the website Soyuzlegprom. 

Photo: Soyuzlegprom