The 19th International Fashion Exhibition Central Asia Fashion Spring 2017 was held in Almaty from March 12 to 14.

The official opening of the exhibition was marked by a fashion show of young Kazakhstani designers. Raushan Kireeva, Saltanat Adildayeva, Akmaral Dikhanbayeva, Aknur Kaskenova, Alua Dauletkan, Gulnara Zhanibekova, Nurgul Duimagambetova, Asel Kemelbaeva showed their new works. All these designers are finalists of the VI National Open Way Young Designers Competition. For them, presenting their collections on the Central Asia Fashion platform is a new experience and new contacts with an unfamiliar audience of buyers, wholesale buyers and business owners.

To present their brands on the Kazakhstan market is the main goal of participation in the Central Asia Fashion exhibition for all participants of the event. Some of them have already managed to find partners and arrange the supply of their assortment to stores in Kazakhstan, and someone is just beginning to introduce professional buyers to their goods. Both those and other participants of the exhibition recognize that Central Asia Fashion has become an ideal platform for them, which helps not only to keep in touch with existing partners, but also to meet new potential customers.

The exhibition is also unique in that it represents new foreign manufacturers of clothing, shoes and accessories. For example, this season, for the first time, a designer from Saudi Arabia, Haifa Fahad, showed her products on the site. She presented her collection both on the stand and on the podium. The young fashion designer brand Despina Touta from the UAE was also introduced to the Kazakh market for the first time, thanks to Central Asia Fashion. The spring season of the exhibition was also attended by companies from Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Mongolia, Italy, France, Greece, Finland, Kyrgyzstan.

Export and Light Industry Associations of the participating countries play an important role in the development of partnership relations between Kazakhstan and the countries of the far and near abroad. For example, the Istanbul Association of Clothing Exporters IHKIB this year helped organize a trip to the exhibition for more than 20 Turkish manufacturers of women's, men's, children's clothing and shoes. Traditionally, Moldova was represented by a collective stand that united several fashion brands under a common sign Moldova brands. The Association Ente Moda Italia, working to promote the label "Made in Italy" abroad, presents every season at Central Asia Fashion leading Italian clothing manufacturers who are interested in internationalizing their business. The spring season was no exception for Italian companies.

The difference between the 19th Central Asia Fashion Exhibition and the previous ones was the visit of Peter Bolano -an authoritative expert coordinator for projects in the fashion industry from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In the discussion panel, "How to push sales and get out of the consumer coma?"the main question to the expert, which interested both participants and listeners, was about how global retailers are coping with the crisis situation in the global market.

In total, more than 10 reputable experts took part in the business program of the event. One of the most memorable speeches was the reportAnna Kasymova, Senior Client Consultant at Nielsen Kazakhstan. She announced the results of marketing research and shared market analytics. In general, experts noted a general improvement in economic conditions for retailers. They stressed that the demand for fashion accessories and special groups of goods has grown in Kazakhstan: underwear, sports and women's business clothes. According to the participants of the business program, the flow of buyers has not decreased compared to the same period last year, but at the same time, Kazakhstani buyers have become much more selective. Over the past six months, they have actively used consumer loans, which make it possible to take up to 100 000 tenge in installments to buy clothes and shoes. The participants of the business program also stressed that microcredit is not the best way to stimulate sales. According to experts, a more effective way to stimulate consumers is the introduction of discount cards.

Exhibition Central Asia Fashion – this is not only a professional, but also a creative platform. To support the creative atmosphere of Central Asia Fashion, a special exhibition of the famous Kazakh artist Nurlan Abishev "Code of the Nomad" was organized. In the author's exposition, he presented 10 graphic and 4 pictorial miniatures.

In support of such a landmark event for Kazakhstan as the International Winter Universiade, a special zone was organized at the Central Asia Fashion site, where winter clothing was presented for participants, delegates, organizers and the athletes' team.

The jubilee 20th International Exhibition Central Asia Fashion Autumn 2017 will be held in Almaty from September 17 to 19.