At the end of this year, the Textile Innovation Accelerator project participated in Expotextil Peru 2023. This project is developed under Component 1 of AL-INVEST Verde by ASPEm, in collaboration with the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Peru; SIC, Spanish Association for Sustainability, Innovation and Circularity in Fashion; ADEC-ATC, Labour Association for Development and the National Society of Industries, with the support of the European Union. At the event, the project had the opportunity to share experiences and challenges with more than 200 people from companies and interested entities. With the aim of promoting sustainable growth in industry geared towards the circular economy and the creation of green jobs.
Expotextil is an international trade fair for suppliers to the textile and clothing industry, which, in 2023, was held at the Jockey Exhibition Centre. Since its previous edition, Expotextil Peru has taken on the challenge of becoming more versatile and consolidating itself as the country's most complete platform for information and commercial promotion in the textile and clothing sector, but above all, incorporating on the same platform, the country's most important guilds and micro, small, medium and large companies that include, within their production, processes, technologies or others, part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This year, Expotextil proposed to implement and give greater relevance to a new perspective to the fair, promoting the sustainability in the textile sector. There were multiple exhibitions and presentations on the subject, for which the director of ASPEm Peru, María Zevallos, was invited to be part of the discussion "Sustainability in fashion", together with Augusto Montoya, cool hunter and trend analyst. The panel aimed to present new measures in the textile field for a transition to a more environmentally and socially responsible path.
He also highlighted the participation of QAYA Cuero De Pescado Peruano and Killa Vive Verde, companies participating in the Textile Innovation Accelerator, who were present at the fair together with ASPEm, representing the project. Their innovation and creativity attracted the attention of many of the fair's attendees who showed interest and were surprised by the products and commitment to sustainability that both MSMEs demonstrated.
"For ASPEm, being able to participate in Expotextil Peru with the Textile Innovation Accelerator project was one of the most rewarding experiences for the project, as it opened up networking opportunities with other entities that share the project's objective: working for bringing about change in the textile sector and those who are part of it, as well as being able to contact businessmen and women who can participate in the project and form alliances between different actors," they said.
