São Paulo – The Moroccan brand Pont du Kaftan, which makes typical dresses (which are called kaftans) and men’s attire, will sell its items in Brazil via the Fashion Inclusive Brazil project.
On June 13th and 14th, the Moroccan brand took part in the third parade of the project created two years ago to bring African fashion to Brazil and vice versa. “They showed party dresses, casual dresses for daily wear and men’s clothes,” says project director Irma Alves about the parade by the Casablanca-based Arab brand.
Besides the Moroccan brand, the parade featured brands from Tanzania, Cameroon and Nigeria. “It was a culture-oriented event. We also had an urban art performance, with two panels representing Africa and Brazil. During the event, over 15 short films by the United Nations on sustainable development and the millennium development goals were shown,” says Alves. The event also featured an area with stands where the participating brands sold their products.
According to Alves, the brands featured in the Rio parade are all small businesses. The items to be sold here will be selected by the project’s director herself. She says she’ll go to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, to meet with representatives of the Moroccan brand and choose the items that will be sold here online.
“They will create a portfolio and send it to me. We need to have products in store to fulfill the orders,” she explains. According to the Fashion Inclusive Brazil director, the Moroccan clothing items that should be the most successful in Brazil are party dresses.
“Some girls paraded wearing dresses that are semi-jewels with pearl details. If you have a social event to attend and want to shake things up a bit, you got an option,” says Alves. She also owns a clothing brand, FIB Store, and plans on exporting to the Arab countries. “We’ve launched a collection we intend to export to them. It’s a more discreet line with not as much cleavage,” she asserts. Another of her projects is to hold a Brazilian fashion week in Dubai.
Alves explains that Fashion Inclusive Brazil is partners with African Fashion Show, a Swiss project devoted to promoting African fashion, and has backing from the United Nations. The first editions of Fashion Inclusive Brazil were held in the cities of Búzios (Rio de Janeiro state), 2013, and Geneva, 2014.
The online sales platform for the Fashion Inclusive Brazil brands should be up and running in about 40 days. Apart from the parades and online sales site, the project has a magazine, and a partner is being sought to create an English version. Interested parties can contact the Fashion Inclusive Brazil team directly.
Fashion Inclusive Brazil
Website: http://fashioninclusivebrazil.com.br/
Email: irmaalves.consultant@gmail.com
Phone: +55 21 2025-5706
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
