Back from Medellin, the factory visits and Colombia Moda 2008. The trip was a great experience and we got to know the right factories to bring into the MFG.com Textiles marketplace. Look for them here soon to service the needs of the MFG.com Fabric and Apparel buyers/brands. In the meantime, here's the equivalent of about 13,000 words to tell a story of what's happening in Medellin right now.
Just spent two days at Colombia Moda in Medellin. The show is very important in the local market and is recognized as one of if not the most important shows for Latin America... Uribe even showed up. We were in town to meet with those Colombian factories that would be a great fit in the MFG.com Textiles marketplace and also to meet in person with the people that make the industry tick in Colombia. We did and we did. Here are the shots.... By the way - the mannequin is not a mannequin.
The group photo from Left to Right.... Carlos from ProExport, Adriana Tieck from InexModa, Roque Ospina (Co-Founder of InexModa), Claritza Rojas Pinzon from ProExport, Clara Echeverri (Co-Founder of InexModa), Jorge Barrera from MFG.com, Ingrid Fitzgerald from ProExport, and Tony Forcucci from MFG.com
Paid a visit yesterday morning to Fabricato, the most well-known Textiles producer in Colombia and famous throughout the industry. We were offered an incredible tour of the facilities to see first-hand how raw cotton goes through the entire process to create fabric. Mr. Jorge Malabet was nice enough to give us a personal experience walking us through the various stages of the plant which is located in the valley of Bello. The production is cutting edge in all respects, from water treatment to cotton manipulation to raw denim production. We were impressed with Fabricato and they were interested in how MFG.com can be an excellent tool for the both on the Supplier side and as a Buyer for a huge amount of spare parts for the countless machines they have on hand. Here are some images:
Not Crystal but "Kris-taal" in the local tongue. In our tour of the top Textiles and Apparel factories in Medellin, Crystal is hands down one of the finest. As we line up the right suppliers in Latin America for the MFG.com Textiles marketplace, we had a fabulous face to face meeting with Crystal's President Mr. Luis Fernando Restrepo followed by a tour of the facilities by plant manager Santiago that was a lesson in how to do it right. Crystal has several of their own important brands and is a supplier to major retailers such as Target back in the USA. There are several divisions and the one we visited specializes in socks. You would not believe how much goes into making socks and how incredible automated and technical this factory is. For example, this factory uses state-of-the-art machines that know in real time when a thread breaks and automatically fixes the situation. Look carefully at the images to try and get an idea of the scale of the production. On a curious note, Crystal keeps a fairly large collection of rare and beautiful birds on the premises such as Guacamayas because the original founder of the company was passionate about them. Here are the shots and look for Crystal in the MFG.com supplier network soon:
We're here in Medellin, Colombia attending Colombia Moda, visiting several top textile and apparel factories. Yesterday there was an important event where the Mayor of Medellin honored Clara Echeverri and Roque Ospina, the founders of Inexmoda who are retiring this week. The event was a nice opportunity to not only meet them but also meet the new director of Inexmoda, Carlos Botero, and the Mayor of Medellin, Alonso Salazar. Medellin is going through a massive and ongoing "transformation" as the locals call it and there is a detectable energy in the people and the city. The results of hard work are everywhere and the people are fiercely proud of their city and what they call "Clusters". Clusters are the areas of business where Medellin (and the state of Antioquia) tend to excel (such as Textiles and Apparel). Here are the shots:
In Medellin, if you are looking for the latest threads you go to the two main shopping zones - Oviedo and El Tesoro. Just in case people have a certain impression of Colombia, you might like to see that the stores you frequent in NYC, London, or Barcelona are in here full force. Here's a glimpse of Puma, Americanino, Diesel, Kipling, Mango (Zara), and Marithé François Girbaud as only a few of the many retail fronts in Colombia:
I am in Colombia for ColombiaModa (arguably the most important Fashion Trade Show in Latin America). I have been now to Colombia several times over the past 8 years and can tell you it has continued to improve on each visit and in fact is quite a happening place, especially Medellin which is moving very fast. Opportunities in real estate, retail, manufacturing are all around - you can smell the activity and a certain degree of optimism in the air. Had the chance yesterday to visit with 3 of the most important suppliers in Medellin for clothing production: CI Jeans, CI Expofaro, and the well known screenprinter Static Colors. Was discussing how MFG.com Textiles can be an excellent resource for each of them for securing new business/clients when they want to fill their open capacity. They all got it immediately and interestingly enough all three top suppliers saw how they can use MFG.com as a buyer as well. Check out these photos from our visit to CI Jeans.
